Haiti-The Poor
7-21-1994
^Haiti's Poor Suffering Hunger But Not Starvation From International Embargo
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ A trade embargo is causing hunger and severe malnutrition among Haiti's poor, who already live a borderline existence in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, international aid officials say.
The situation is so critical in the arid region of northwest Haiti that CARE, the international aid agency, said Wednesday it was considering an emergency feeding program for school children on summer vacation.
"There is no widespread starvation, but a lot of malnutrition," said Phil Gelman, CARE's food aid program director. "This is hitting people whose existence was precarious to begin with."
The embargo is intended to make life difficult for all Haitians and increase the pressure on the military rulers to reinstate President Jean- Bertrand Aristide, ousted in a 1991 coup, to power.
But aid workers point out that the ones who are most seriously affected are the poor, who have no cushion, are abused by the military and have no leverage to influence government policy.
"What can they do? If they hold a demonstration to protest against the government, it will be immediately put down by repression," said Jean-Marie Duval, Haiti director of the French relief agency International Action Against Hunger.
Gelman said between 60,000 to 100,000 Haitians lost their jobs as factories, lacking spare parts and an international market, closed down during a series of international trade embargoes that began in October 1991.
The United Nations imposed a petroleum and arms embargo in October 1993 and broadened it in May to include nearly all trade.
Instead of going to her job as a janitor in a toy factory, which closed in April, Joceline Pierre was waiting in line at a food distribution center Wednesday with more than a thousand other people for a sack of powdered milk, a scoop of pinto beans and a can of mackerel from an international relief agency.
Evidence of the desperation at the center was a near riot Tuesday, with police lashing people with belts as they struggled to get inside for a handout.
After a 1 1/2 -hour wait, she slung a plastic bag loaded with the goods over her shoulder and set off for home, a windowless, one-room, concrete-slab house with no plumbing or electricity on the edge of the city.
After being laid off when the factory closed, Pierre watched her life savings of $35 quickly disappear paying a doctor to treat her 2-year-old daughter, who is suffering from typhoid.
All Pierre has now to her name is 35 cents.
"The embargo has finished me. I have no job, nothing to do, and no way to make money," said Pierre, who despite her circumstances has a serene demeanor and quick smile.
She is not angry at the international community for the embargo, because she knows it was imposed to restore Aristide. The Roman Catholic priest has promised to help the poor whose needs have gone ignored by a succession of elitist, authoritarian governments.
Pierre did not want to discuss politics, out of fear of reprisal by security forces. She said beatings of people who speak against the government are common in her ramshackle neighborhood.
With the embargo squeezing the economy and a fleet of U.S. warships offshore poised for invasion, Pierre takes refuge in God.
"I pray for my country," she said. "I pray for the future of my country, that jobs will come back, and that I'll have a better life."
^Haiti's Poor Suffering Hunger But Not Starvation From International Embargo
^By ANDREW SELSKY
^Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) _ A trade embargo is causing hunger and severe malnutrition among Haiti's poor, who already live a borderline existence in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, international aid officials say.
The situation is so critical in the arid region of northwest Haiti that CARE, the international aid agency, said Wednesday it was considering an emergency feeding program for school children on summer vacation.
"There is no widespread starvation, but a lot of malnutrition," said Phil Gelman, CARE's food aid program director. "This is hitting people whose existence was precarious to begin with."
The embargo is intended to make life difficult for all Haitians and increase the pressure on the military rulers to reinstate President Jean- Bertrand Aristide, ousted in a 1991 coup, to power.
But aid workers point out that the ones who are most seriously affected are the poor, who have no cushion, are abused by the military and have no leverage to influence government policy.
"What can they do? If they hold a demonstration to protest against the government, it will be immediately put down by repression," said Jean-Marie Duval, Haiti director of the French relief agency International Action Against Hunger.
Gelman said between 60,000 to 100,000 Haitians lost their jobs as factories, lacking spare parts and an international market, closed down during a series of international trade embargoes that began in October 1991.
The United Nations imposed a petroleum and arms embargo in October 1993 and broadened it in May to include nearly all trade.
Instead of going to her job as a janitor in a toy factory, which closed in April, Joceline Pierre was waiting in line at a food distribution center Wednesday with more than a thousand other people for a sack of powdered milk, a scoop of pinto beans and a can of mackerel from an international relief agency.
Evidence of the desperation at the center was a near riot Tuesday, with police lashing people with belts as they struggled to get inside for a handout.
After a 1 1/2 -hour wait, she slung a plastic bag loaded with the goods over her shoulder and set off for home, a windowless, one-room, concrete-slab house with no plumbing or electricity on the edge of the city.
After being laid off when the factory closed, Pierre watched her life savings of $35 quickly disappear paying a doctor to treat her 2-year-old daughter, who is suffering from typhoid.
All Pierre has now to her name is 35 cents.
"The embargo has finished me. I have no job, nothing to do, and no way to make money," said Pierre, who despite her circumstances has a serene demeanor and quick smile.
She is not angry at the international community for the embargo, because she knows it was imposed to restore Aristide. The Roman Catholic priest has promised to help the poor whose needs have gone ignored by a succession of elitist, authoritarian governments.
Pierre did not want to discuss politics, out of fear of reprisal by security forces. She said beatings of people who speak against the government are common in her ramshackle neighborhood.
With the embargo squeezing the economy and a fleet of U.S. warships offshore poised for invasion, Pierre takes refuge in God.
"I pray for my country," she said. "I pray for the future of my country, that jobs will come back, and that I'll have a better life."
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