Haiti Elections 2015: Political Intervention, CARICOM Deficiencies & Missing Aid

Map of Haiti/Haitian Flag

It is no secret that elections underway in Haiti have been filled with allegations and reports of wide spread fraud, intimidation, violence, external interference and general corruption; all are components of past and recent Haitian democratic processes.

But with the Nation still recovering from a devastating earthquake that only served to weaken its public institutions, the United States' State Department has taken guidance over the current presidential vote, with CARICOM merely an observer to the proceedings.

Democracy Protests

Even as the State Department overlooks the process there are further reports of misconduct among the political actors only adding to growing unease of the common Haitian and placing democracy further away from them.This has led to on/off clashes between democracy protesters and Haitian security forces before, during and after the voting in August and October. Voting continues in December with still occurring clashes daily.

Haiti Special Coordinator Kenneth Merten 

In his teleconferenced remarks on November 16th about the Haiti elections, Haiti Special Coordinator Kenneth Merten acknowledged "the disagreements" among the political players then stated "the good news is that the elections are taking place" and response to a question asked by the moderator Dr.Theramene(Haitian Americans for Progress) to elaborate on whether or not there is political interference by his government, Merten explained "We will work with whoever or whatever president comes out of this process." Even if 900,000 party monitors received credentials to vote at multiple voting centers.

Haiti Military Coup

His statement falls inline with the subvert quarters of US foreign policy which is protect their interest though by inducing "stability" - the key word - in simple terms, the works of democracy are shelved for a government, any government so that business as usual may carry on.


The flip side to that shortcut approach is that the peoples dissatisfaction and the governments spoon fed power often end up clashing and this creates instability leading to what we saw in Haiti before in the military coup..

POTUS Obama & CARICOM PMs

The United States(US) is apart of a Core Group in Haiti and as stated by Merten, that includes Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, European Union and representatives of the OAS; the US has the major influence and is working accordingly.With the US committing $31 Million to support election activities its not too cynical to say they will expect value for their money.

With Several organizations representing the Haitian Diaspora in the United States have joining to find solutions to the election crisis in Haiti there will hopefully be group that is fighting the best interest of nation and its people.

Why CARICOM's Limited Role?

The group with least influence though and seemingly with the least interest in the Haiti's current critical democratic redevelopment is the 'regional' body: Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Caribbean people, with little to no Caribbean media coverage of the current events.


Not to unfair to the regional body and its people, CARICOM past actions of support for Haiti count as admirable between the banning of illegitimate Latortue government, Aid, observer missions to recent support against Dominicans Republic's policy making Haitian descendants stateless.

Although most of the electoral observer missions were joint operations with the Organization of American States(OAS). CARICOM  has once again limited itself to spectator seat of a overheated election.


The Caribbean media on the other hand seem to have descended past the usual local market driven news content when it comes to Haiti with almost a complete black with most content coming from extra regional sources.I will not question the news editor choices but only urge newsroom rooms regional to encourage regional interest of some sort.


But Haiti has long been wrongly classified as the stepchild of the Caribbean and continues to be seen as economically 'dispensable' and a "burden"  to CARICOM. Although Haiti's relationship with the organisation has not been steady since its admission in 1999 there is no question in my mind that this is a critical juncture for Haitians in their redevelopment.

CARICOM needs t be ready to gain and have greater influence for the strengthening of a regional integration with shared values,similar economies, common culture and geopolitical interest the reasons deepen Haiti-CARICOM relations out weigh disadvantages.


CARICOM's ability to intervene as the regional overseer is hampered not only by financial andresources restraints but by its own unwillingness to create powers to intervene beyond strong worded statements and the cold shoulder:

Hon. Dr.Kenneth Anthony

Hon.Dr.Kenny Anthony of St. Lucia noted in a speech delivered in 2001: "The organization [CARCOM] is not fully seized of the significance of its involvement."   

This calls for reform and restructuring of the regional organization to better suite the current regional integration unions and political-economic area blocs that supports wider influence locally, regionally and internationally.

C.Grant states in his 2007 paper for "Intervention, Border and Maritime Issues in CARICOM" entitled "CARICOM:Non-Intervention & Intervention" that

“While the current diplomatic modus operandi has served the Community reasonably well, there is the need for indicators for intervention to be developed and for a formal institutional mechanism to mediate political conflicts among stakeholders in the political process of the various Caribbean states to replace the reliance on ad hoc interventions such as those utilized in Guyana and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”

Humanitarian Fail: Where are the Missing Aid Funds ?

Haiti 2010 Earthquake Aftermath (NPR)

I end on an extremely sour humanitarian note that concerns Haiti's aid pledge; Its reported that of 15 000 homes promised to be built only 900 have been delivered, US $7.6 billion has been disbursed and little to show for it, lack of accountability leading to corruption surrounding aid, relief and rebuilding expenditure means the many of those suffering from the 2010 quake are still in tents, on the streets, children not attending school, living conditions and hygiene at inhumane levels.


By all means Haiti is still in the midst of a Earthquake and its allies lead by the US and CARICOM are not back to pre-2010 misconceptions, mistreatment and disregard of Haiti-Pearl of the Caribbean and the free Haitian people.

#TruthBeToldThursday: #TivoliCOE

Truth be Told:  

We must complete the Tivoli Commission of Enquiry, at the any cost (cheapest possible cost included, of course) - It was nothing but a serious injustice that the state could have killed over 70 people within a single community and the masses of the population didn't decide in outrage to protest such a criminal act against our own people - then again - we all heard the whispers of some (not so nice) Jamaicans "yea man, killed them off", "a only badman live there".  Even as we call for the expected money of 350 million being budgeted to run the Commission off Enquiry in its entirety to be dispersed as compensation to the people of Tivoli Gardens, we must not be ignorant of the significance of getting to the truth and apply the expected recommendations as to not repeat the events of the past. We must not allow our apathy and contempt of the system/process rob us of our rights - the Jamaica Labour Party must own up to the cause and structure of this enquiry - it was the government lead by Bruce Golding that decided to carry-out the incursion and it was their decision not to be apart of the enquiry in its planning stages, so this flurry of concern over cost is a bit overdone. 

Those Who Know Better: Extremism Hindering Debate on Human Rights

We must not allow Fundamentalism and/ Extremism to take hold of our consciousness whether it be Faith based or otherwise; history has proven that crusades only ensure the victory of one side and the mass slaughter of the ‘enemy’ but Jamaica is better than this backward stepping series of events that may see us regurgitating our past of violent intolerance of our differences including religious. 


When we speak of tolerance or equality we need to include all the other forms of prejudice and narrow-mindedness that Jamaicans have not properly addressed because we can’t hide behind our ‘Christianity’ when we speak of things like racism and xenophobia.

With both sides of this ‘war’ being guilty of the same sins in order to win the propaganda battle of words and conviction, its certain that anyone caught in the middle will be placed on either side by those ardent on seeking and subduing the ‘enemy’ based on the appalling belief of “If you’re not (entirely) with me, then your (entirely) against me”. 

Middle Ground

I refused to be told that, I, a young supporter of Human Rights and Equality am immoral and confused because American right-wing influenced and funded Christian groups relating all Human Rights as “Gay Lobby” and “Gay Agenda”.

I refused to be forced or morally ‘brainwashed’ to accept conduct contrary to my personal belief and crosses my particular red line that may or may not align with popular or unpopular behaviour and doctrine. 

Many young people like me have slowly realized that we are all individuals; and as much as we want to generalize gays, Christians, women and men; there is no oversimplifying the extraordinary human experience.So even now, when Gay Rights activist label Christians as Homophobes and Christians return to the dangerous narrative of linking Homosexuality and Paedophilia – We know better. 

Finally, Government cannot escape from this melee of social issues blameless; there is no leading from behind for a Jamaican government and most importantly a Jamaican elected representative on these issues, specifically Sexual Education. Don’t kill the messenger, because you don’t like the message – Where were you when the message needed to be delivered?

As a Human Rights supporter I must compel the Human Rights lobbyist to get the Jamaican Government to put a non-binding referendum to the people, so we can get a proper understanding of where we stand now and how we proceed.

The Colour of Justice: Who and What Failed Trayvon Martin

The Colour of Justice: 

Who and What Failed Trayvon Martin?

Trayvon Martin

[On a personal note] “I find myself trying to separate the “Trayvon Martin Story” from the “Zimmerman Trial” – unlike many of My Liberal counterparts – maybe to ease personal discontentment with “The System” for allowing itself to be used to prop-up a “self-defence” claim over the obvious truth of “racial profiling” that lead to the death of a unarmed, African-American youth; Who had no intention of committing a crime the night he died.

However, I have to submit to the rule of law, whether it’s fair or not, and it was on the basis of Florida’s “stand your ground” (SYG) law, that the Jurors deliberated on – Was George Zimmerman’s life ‘sufficiently’ in danger for him to have shot and killed Trayvon? – And with my own eyes I watched the Defence team resuscitate Trayvon Martin in that court room with the intention of painting him as “Black”, using racial stereotypes to convince the jurors and the public that Zimmerman was right in “pursuing”, “engaging” and “killing” the “Black” in a hoodie because his “Profile” was indicative of a troublemaker of some kind.”

Who Failed Trayvon

But unfortunately, the prosecution was simply afraid to touch on race; rather they focused squarely on storytelling with the evidence and purely based on that – I gave Zimmerman, a gut wrenching “Not-Guilty” long before the verdict.

It was no hard task for Zimmerman’s attorneys to destabilize the sturdy ground on which the prosecution felt they stood on with their case of killing without justification. The needless death of Trayvon Martin was placed second to the ineffective refuting Zimmerman’s “self-defence” story – the prosecution faulted when they refused to highlight the thinking of Zimmerman when he had called the police, in his capacity as a neighbourhood watchman complained of suspicious persons, who were all “Black”.

Earlier in the trial, the star witness for the prosecution was a female friend of Trayvon, who was the last person to speak to Trayvon except Zimmerman – and the Defence turned her into a representative for all “Blacks” across America because of her heavy creole – even asking “Do you have a problem understanding English”, although it obvious she didn't  When the Defence brought out the witness, whom had her house broken into by a “Black” teenager to prove somehow that all African-American youth are “burglars” (No offense, of course); How did the prosecution miss the opportunity to expose such blatant “profiling”.

What Failed Trayvon

And it is that profiling that caused Zimmerman to leave his truck to further pursue Trayvon (despite being told not to by a 911 dispatcher) with a loaded gun, with the “SYG” law on his side, Mr Zimmerman would have 

been embolden to take the confrontation as far as he wanted it to go.

Without a doubt the highest tier of “The System” failed an unarmed teenager. The law created and supported by a fully conservative state legislature that gave so much power to George Zimmerman wasn't able to stop Dr Marissa Alexander from getting sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot into the roof of her home to stop the violent advances of her ex-husband.

It was also that same law that made the Stanford police, treat dead Trayvon Martin as a suspect and living Zimmerman free for days after the incident and as it was proven that “Justice delayed is justice denied”. The Justice Department said Sunday it will weigh criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman, as urged by the NAACP and others. That course would be satisfying on one level, presumably addressing the actions that led to the fight, probably rendering the “Stand Your Ground” law ineffective – because the confrontation was unnecessary and triggered by “Profiling”. Just as Federal Government has done repeatedly in history it must do again in defending the civil rights and dignity of the minority – Race, Gender, Sexuality, Religion, etc.

Going Forward:

“Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted, it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.” – A. Phillip Randolph

This time Freedom will be won not in court or through the legislature but through the actions of a people angered and saddened by death and the perceived injustice following that death; we must not falter in our commitment to Trayvon Martin, Dr King, Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley, Rosa Parks or any other who spoke, stood, sat or died in our place so that we could have salvation in knowing that we are all equal.

To invoke violence, would corrupt the advances we have made through peaceful protest and processes, like the election of the first African-American President Barack Obama.

Now is not the time to be Zimmerman’s “Black” but “I am Black and I am Proud” kind of “Black”.