Bill Clinton, who is helping to spearhead U.S. aid efforts, helps unload a plane
Some Haitians welcome the commitment. Those who jammed the fence around the grounds of the ruined national palace in Port-au-Prince, as U.S. troops emerged from six navy helicopters on Tuesday, cheered. “We are happy that they are coming, because we have so many problems,” Fede Felissaint, a hairdresser, told reporters. “If they want, they can stay longer than in 1915.”
Not all Americans are thrilled by the prospect. On Jan. 13, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh portrayed the administration’s aggressive approach to the crisis as, “We should take it over, we should do something, annex it, make it a state. Imperialism, yeah, make it a state, take it over.” He also, controversially, accused Obama of exploiting the tragedy for domestic political ends. “They’ll use this to burnish their, shall we say, ‘credibility’ with the black community.”
But the extent of U.S. involvement has also raised hackles elsewhere, and not just among the French. Echoing French minister Joyandet, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused Washington of “occupying Haiti undercover.” Sensitive to accusations of a takeover, Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have gone out of their way to emphasize that the increased U.S. presence in Haiti is at the request of Préval, whose administration they support. “We are here at the invitation of your government to help you,” Clinton told Haitians during her visit on Saturday. By Sunday, she and Préval issued a joint communiqué that included the statement that “President Préval, on behalf of the government and people of Haiti, welcomes as essential the efforts in Haiti by the government and people of the United States to support the immediate recovery, stability and long-term rebuilding of Haiti and requests the United States to assist as needed in augmenting security in support of the government and people of Haiti and the United Nations, international partners and organizations on the ground.”
Soliders of the U.S. 82nd Airborne land at the National Palace
Many observers, though, say that a more paternalistic role by the U.S. or the UN is the only way to improve the lot of Haitians. Gabriel Marcella, a Latin America specialist at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Penn., proposed in 2005 that Haiti could not survive as a sovereign state. In a paper for a Washington conference on the country’s future, Marcella argued for “co-operative sovereignty,” under which the UN would set up a “trusteeship” over the nation. “The notion of sharing or ‘co-operative sovereignty’ with an international body may be deeply unpopular with some people,” he wrote. “But it may be the only dignified alternative left, so that domestic sovereignty can be strengthened to such a degree that Haitians can resume full control of their nation at some future date.”
At the time, the idea was resisted, Marcella told Maclean’s in an interview. “When I got reactions from people in Washington and New York I came to the conclusion that there was really no stomach for the UN taking on a trusteeship in Haiti.” However, he says, the UN mission in Haiti essentially took over the security role as he had envisioned. And now, since the earthquake, he is hearing a different tone from international leaders.
“I’m beginning to see a significant change in the language of national leaders in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America,” Marcella says. “I’m hearing very strong language about wanting to be more effective for the long term. There is a greater consensus now than ever before that something more dramatic and sustained has to be done. My current thinking is that nine million Haitians, with two per cent of the forest cover left on the island, where charcoal comprises 71 per cent of the fuel used for cooking, where 43 per cent of people don’t have enough food, and 80 per cent are unemployed, need a massive, multi-year effort to reconstruct the economy and the ecological basis for human habitation.” And Washington should take the lead. “I think the U.S. would gladly hand it off to the UN,” he notes. “But I very much fear that in doing so the effort might be diluted. The kind of commitment we need will simply not be there.”
A Canadian military medic treats the injured in Port-au-Prince
To some, it’s the sort of proposal that should make international leaders leery. Roger Noriega, for one, a former assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs under the Bush administration, rejects the scenario of a U.S. or a UN protectorate: “I think it’s a shortcut to say we have to put it under international trusteeship. I think Haitians should be given the opportunity to run their own affairs. We need to accompany them in that process.”
But many of those now picking through the rubble of their former homes want more than just company—for the good of their country. Gary Joseph, a Haitian businessman and aspiring politician who once lived and studied in the United States, is among them. “People used to come here to see what they could get from this country,” says Joseph, whose home was destroyed but who remains hopeful for the future. “This time they’re not here to take stuff. They’re here to bring stuff. I believe this time it’s going to be for real. Everything happens for a reason. And I believe that we’re going to take advantage of what happened to rebuild this country.”
