‘How Human Rights Can Build Haiti’

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/marjorie-cohn/60771/how-human-rights-can-build-haiti

‘How Human Rights Can Build Haiti’
Haiti | Human Rights
by Marjorie Cohn | February 3, 2015 - 8:30am

~snip~

After occupying Cuba and Puerto Rico, the United States sent Marines to invade Haiti, the only nation born from a successful slave rebellion. The United States declared martial law, seized control of the treasury, and arrested the editors of a newspaper critical of U.S. actions. Haitian opposition to the U.S. occupation grew for the next 20 years, and in 1934, the Marines left Haiti. Haitian president

Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier exploited the bitterness of the people of Haiti about U.S. domination. But his anti-communism endeared him to the United States and led to U.S. endorsement of his presidential campaign and his successful election in 1956. For the next 30 years, Papa Doc presided over a reign a terror in Haiti, backed by the United States. U.S. support continued during the oppressive tenure of Papa Doc’s son, Jean-Claude Duvalier (‘Baby Doc’).

Haiti’s fragile economy was further weakened by the neoliberal ‘structural adjustment’ program foisted upon it by its international creditors, including the International Monetary Bank. Wages and social services were kept at a minimal level as taxes and tariffs were lifted. By 1986, 300 U.S. corporations were located in Haiti. People migrated from the countryside to seek low-wage jobs in the city.

In 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide became Haiti’s first democratically elected president, winning more than 67 percent of the vote and defeating a neoliberal former World Bank official. When Aristide attempted to reverse the neoliberal policies foisted on Haiti, the United States strongly resisted. Less than one year later, Aristide was ousted by officers of the Haitian army, who had been trained at the U.S. School of the Americas and/or were on the CIA payroll.

[pscot]

1. Mandatory birth control

is the only thing that might help Haiti.