Consummating a U.S. takeover (of haiti)

[Hannah Bell]

While demonstrators in the street outside protest the continuing U.S. and UN military occupation of Haiti, now over six years old, and the Haitian people's exclusion from deliberations on the country's reconstruction, dignitaries inside--like UN Special Envoy to Haiti Bill Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Haitian President René Préval--will unveil a plan with lots of pomp and ceremony, but which boils down to just one thing: Washington's takeover of the "new" Haiti.

Hyperbole? Unfortunately, no. The lead editorial in the March 28 New York Times, which generally articulates the thinking of the U.S. power elite, lays it out clearly:

The plan envisions a multidonor trust fund managed by the World Bank that pools money for big projects and avoids wasteful redundancy. The Haitian Development Authority would approve the projects; outside auditors would oversee the spending. (Our emphasis added.)

Translation: The World Bank, not Haiti, will run the show, a council of foreigners (with a sprinkling of token Haitians) will rubber-stamp directives, and other foreign overseers will supervise the Haitians carrying out the directives.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/04/05/consummating-a-takeover