<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">Haiti: Six Months Later<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">There seems to have been a flurry of media reports about Haiti
commemorating the 6th month anniversary of the earthquake.<font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"> </font>The general picture is one in which only a fraction of the millions of
dollars donated by the general public and charity organizations has been
converted into concrete assistance for the people of Haiti.<font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"> </font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">The best and most in-depth of these reports is by </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#863717;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/12/democracy_now_in_port_au_prince">Amy
Goodman</a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"> for <i>Democracy Now. </i></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US">She exlains how despite $11 billion of aid
promised Haitians have only seen 10 percent of this.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#863717;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/money-trail-months-haiti-earthquake-left-millions-peril/story?id=11128898">David
Muir</a> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">of ABC news reports that there is still
25 million cubic tones of rubble in the streets of Port-au-Prince and that only
10,000 new shelters have found their way to the 1.7 million homeless, less than
10% of that required.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;
font-family:Georgia;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">According an article on </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;
font-family:Georgia;color:#863717;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><a href="http://www.haitian-truth.org/customs-stalling-aid-efforts-in-haiti-added-commmentary-by-haitian-truth/">Haitian-Truth.org</a>
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;
mso-ansi-language:EN-US">one of the causes for the delays in the flow of aid
are the Customs Authorities who are rumored to be charging extortionate import
taxes on medical and building supplies donated by non-registered charities.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">In his interview with Amy Goodman, Patrick Elie, former Secretary of
State for Public Security in Haiti, claims that the part of the %10 that has
been spent was used to fund the US military security operation immediately
after the disaster.<font class="Apple-style-span" color="#000000"> </font>He believes that without vigilance on the part of Haiti and its
international friends, what he calls the 'Grand-Scale Vultures' of mercenary
military corporations - such as Haliburton, Black Water, DynCorp - will syphon
off most of the aid revenue from the international NGO's.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">On a postive note he discusses the revival of neighborhood committees
who have been taking care of public security and organization. There has
emerged a federation of neighborhood committees that could form the basis for a
new form of collective organization and politics in Haiti.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">"We are a people who can fend for ourselves" he says. "We
have a vision of where we want to go. So we do need friends but we don’t need
people to think for us, or to pity us. That is probably the attitude that’s
playing a part in the aid not being forthcoming. Our friends, if they are
friends, should trust us."</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;
font-family:Georgia;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">Amy Goodman also interviews <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/7/12/beverly_bell_there_is_no_plan"><span style="color:#863717;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none">Beverly Bell</span><span style="color:#333333;text-decoration:none;text-underline:none"> </span></a>at
Camp Corail, a refugee built between two killing fields from the Duvalier and
post-Aristide era seven miles outside Port-au-Prince, in one of the hottest and
most exposed areas of the country with no natural shelter. The site is
inhabited by 13,ooo families displaced from makeshift camps in the capital
- many forcibly evicted by the Haitian police and MINUSTAH forces -
with no transportation back to the city where the only meagre food and
medical aid is still available. Rape has become a serious problem in the camps
underling the necessity for secure and permanent housing. Food aid and water
aid are being discontinued in many of the camps after Haitian businessmen
claimed that their profits are being undercut. There is as yet no clear
government plan for the rebuilding of Haiti.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">One resident from Camp Corail explains how at a meeting with the
representative of the NGO's responsible for managing the camp refused to listen
to any of their concerns and he told that they were living better now than they
were in Port-au-Prince. Residents of the camps believe that the aid is
still in the hands of the major NGO's who have said nothing about the situation
and the that President Preval is powerless to do anything about this.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:13.0pt;line-height:19.0pt;mso-pagination:
none;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:
EN-US">Despite the desperate need for adequate housing for the vast majority of
Haitians and the running dry of food and water aid, several new free
enterprise zones have been created since the earthquake as part of Bill
Clinton's plans for Haitian 'reconstruction'. Some of these are being built
directly in the refugee camps.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;
font-family:Georgia;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:13.0pt;font-family:Georgia;
color:#333333;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">Bell outlines an alternative plan for
the reconstruction of Haiti that is not yet being heard by the international
community.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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