US pledge to rebuild Haiti not being met; compare with Cuba [View all]

[HiPointDem]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The deadly earthquake that leveled Haiti's capital more than two years ago brought a thread of hope: a promise of renewal. With the United States taking the lead, international donors pledged billions of dollars to help the country "build back better," breaking its cycle of dependency...

Until now, comprehensive details about who is receiving U.S. funds and how they are spending them have not been released. Contracts, budgets and a 300-item spreadsheet obtained by The Associated Press under a Freedom of Information Act request show:

— Of the $988 million spent so far, a quarter went toward debt relief to unburden the hemisphere's poorest nation of repayments. But after Haiti's loans were paid off, the government began borrowing again: $657 million so far, largely for oil imports rather than development projects.

— Less than 12 percent of the reconstruction money sent to Haiti after the earthquake has gone toward energy, shelter, ports or other infrastructure. At least a third, $329 million, went to projects that were awarded before the 2010 catastrophe and had little to do with the recovery — such as HIV/AIDS programs.

— Half of the $1.8 billion the U.S. promised for rebuilding is still in the Treasury, its disbursement stymied by an understaffed U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince in the months after the quake and by a Haitian government that was barely functional for more than a year.

— Despite State Department promises to keep spending public, some members of Congress and watchdogs say they aren't getting detailed information about how the millions are being spent, as dozens of contractors working for the U.S. government in Haiti leave a complex money trail.

And so far, the U.S. has no public plans to build a clean water or sewer system in Port-au-Prince, even as the country grapples with the world's biggest cholera outbreak that medical researchers say was likely introduced by a U.N. peacekeeping unit after the earthquake. The U.S.'s largest jobs program is a garment manufacturing plant being built in Caracol, 280 kilometers (175 miles) from the capital.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-pledge-rebuild-haiti-not-being-met-170346036.html

Here's a little additional information about the reason some funding is still in the Treasury (contrary to the slant in the article, it's not all about the ineptitude of the Haitian bureaucracy in Port au prince):

Most of the funds pledged to Haiti however from countries and international donors are still being withheld, as officials are expressing concerns about the stability of Haiti's government, particularly after the resignation of former Prime Minister, Garry Conille.

http://www.cnweeklynews.com/la-section-haitienne/87-la-section-haitienne/3514-new-deal-to-bring-cuban-mechanics-to-haiti

Re Cuba:

I came across this comment while reading an interesting article (long but worth reading) about a guy who's in Haiti trying to rebuild using compressed trash:

http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2012/August/How_to_Rebuild_Haiti_Using_Trash.aspx?page=1

He said:

Bloch invites me to go with him and some of his Haitian friends to see RAM, a mizik rasin band (a mix of traditional vodou music with rock and roll), at the Hotel Oloffson, an Anthony Bourdain-approved hotel in downtown Port-au-Prince. Located in a 19th-century gingerbread mansion, it served as the private residence of two Haitian presidents before being converted.

It is a proper Haitian experience, he tells me, so I accept. Plus, it seems like he wants to talk.

“There’s something to be said for communism when it comes to disaster relief,” Bloch says, when we arrive at the hotel...He’s talking about how quickly Cuba was able to rebuild following a hurricane in 2008 versus most of the other places he’s been. It’s a conversation he could have with more than a few people here, since many of the tables around us are filled with NGO workers.

http://www.dmagazine.com/Home/D_Magazine/2012/August/How_to_Rebuild_Haiti_Using_Trash.aspx?page=1


And here's some information about Cuba's rebuilding after the 2008 hurricane:

Professor Fernando Martirena is from the Centre of Investigation into Structures and Materials (CIDEM) research institute at the University of Santa Clara, Cuba. He visited Australia in November 2008 to speak at a number of meetings organised by the Australian Green Development Forum.... Trent Hawkins caught up with Martirena, to find out how the CIDEM is helping to build houses in Cuba using sustainable building materials.


Martirena’s research institute, which previously focused on things like satellite technology, redirected its work towards solving the immediate problems thrown up by the “Special Period”, as the period following the collapse of the Soviet Union is referred to. CIDEM was able to develop a number of “eco-materials” for use in small-scale, local production of housing...

Martirena's research team was called in to respond to the crisis caused by hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma. Thanks to Cuba's renowned hurricane response system, only seven people died from the hurricanes. However it has suffered $10 billion in damage and totally or partially destroyed more than a half a million homes.

“It's really complicated because, on the one side, it (the government) has to make decisions that bring quick results. However the quick answers to the problem aren’t necessarily the best answers....

Martirena added that ``in the aftermath of disaster, you need urgent action. There is a lot of chaos, people don’t know what to do. They are afraid, their houses collapsed, the whole system has collapsed, nothing works, there is no electricity, phones, nothing. In the eight most effected municipalities, we set up fully operating workshops, in less than three weeks. This was a record... Now the government has seen our scheme and now it has realised that it too can very quickly disseminate the technology across the country...’’

“You go to the hurricane-affected regions and witness people who have lost everything and you see them helping others. This is a result of a society where you try not to see others as your enemy but as your friend. It's very beautiful... You can see this in Cuba, especially in the frightening situations when you have a natural disaster.

“The goal and the dream of the Cuban Revolution was to create the so called new man, as Che Guevara said. (While we may have failed to create a `new man') we ... have been able to create a people that has far more solidarity than any other country in the world.’’

Contrary to what people say, our political system works... In Cuba you have free education, you have free health care, you have freedoms. I'm not a member of the Communist Party, I choose not to be and I don’t have any hassles.

“You cannot forget the US embargo, we are a besieged country and everything depends on how this can change in the future. I hope that the new US government will listen to the many countries pushing for it to drop the embargo. If this happens it would bring a tremendous change to the economy.’’

http://links.org.au/node/840