Adverse natural phenomena such as earthquakes and hurricanes are congenital to Haiti. From the middle of the 16th century to last August 14, the Caribbean nation has registered about 17 earthquakes. Six of them with a magnitude between 7.0 and 8.1 on the Richter scale caused serious damage. Such is not only the reality of Haiti but of the entire Caribbean: Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Martinique have suffered earthquakes of magnitude between 7.3 and 7.7 in the last 15 years. The Dominican Republic had a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 1946, which was on average 73 times more powerful than the last two earthquakes in Haiti. The 2007 magnitude 7.4 Martinique earthquake caused just six deaths. What explains that the earthquake of 2010 and the one that just occurred caused so much damage in Haiti even though it was of a minor category? The 2010 magnitude 7 earthquake.0 was the third deadliest in the history of humanity, while earthquakes of this category occur in the world about 18 times a year, sometimes without the news even crossing borders.
The great damage caused by certain natural phenomena is interpreted by some as a curse or a supernatural punishment.
However, Haiti is neither better nor worse treated by nature than the other Caribbean islands.
And, if there is a punishment, it does not come from some god or from nature;
it comes simply from Haitian “leaders”.
Such affirmation is demonstrated when comparing the Haitian reality with the Chilean one.
The good news is that lights are looming at the end of the tunnel in Haiti.
Earthquake in Haiti
Looting and distribution problems hamper the arrival of humanitarian aid to Haiti
"We have nothing": the struggle to survive in the epicenter of the earthquake in Haiti
HAITI, A COUNTRY CAUGHT IN THE TRAGEDY
If there is a country in the world that could be described as "cursed" by nature, it would be Chile (but, we already know, since the 16th century with Galileo, that "the intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us how to go to heaven, and not how is heaven going ”). Indeed, of the 39 largest earthquakes –with a magnitude greater than 8.5 on the Richter scale– recorded in the history of mankind, 11 took place in Chile, almost one in three. In the last 500 years, the South American country has had at least two of the largest earthquakes of each century, in addition to having been the scene of the largest recorded in the history of mankind, the one in 1960. In 2010, it registered an earthquake of magnitude 8.8, 1054 times more powerful than the one that occurred in Haiti the same year.
How is it possible that Chile, the country hardest hit since its inception by the world's greatest earthquakes, is the economy with the highest GDP per capita and the best human development index (0.851) in Latin America and with the system of political parties historically considered the strongest in the region? Does Chile owe this achievement to being the world's largest copper producer? If so, why has Venezuela, being the largest oil reserve, a much more expensive raw material than copper, has been going through such unfortunate situations instead of obtaining the same or better results? Similarly, why Bolivia, a country full of natural resources such as natural gas, tin, lead, zinc and silver, has not taken the Chilean path either? The answers to these questions must be found in the political history of each country,in this case when comparatively reviewing those of Chile and Haiti.
The capture of King Ferdinand VII in 1808 exacerbated independence jealousy in Latin America and Chile entered into a struggle to decide its fate for about 15 years (1811-1826), something similar to the Haitian war of independence that lasted 13 years (1791- 1804). Although it is true that the Chilean was not a slave society as happened in Haiti where the slave, by law, was the same as any piece of furniture, in the South American country there was a society of exclusion where the peninsular (Spaniards born in Spain) dominated at the expense of the Creoles (Spaniards born in the Colony) and the mestizos. The indigenous were not even considered. Chile had to overcome this dichotomy between peninsular and creole and provide a certain legitimacy to the State that was in a vacuum when the only source of legitimacy was the King of Spain.Despite the caudillo tendencies, the South American country managed to create a centralized and inclusive state in the 19th century with the support of politicians like Diego Portales. At that time, Chile's political party system began to emerge, which has played a crucial role in its political stability.
The church of the Sacred Heart of Los Cayos was one of those that suffered considerable damage in the August 14 earthquake.Monica Gonzalez
In Haiti, although it is true that the payment for independence and the quarantine of the country by foreign powers are explanatory factors of its current situation, the most determining factor has been the inability of the leaders of the time to overcome culture caudillista and reach a centralized state and an integrated society like the Chilean one. The father of the country Dessalines was vilely assassinated in 1806, two years after independence (the Chilean patrician O'Higgins, for his part, had to go into exile in Peru). After this assassination, two caudillos, Christophe and Pétion, divided the country into two independent states, while another caudillo named Goman fought to also have his own state.
The common enemy that was France and the isolation of Haiti did not constitute, as might be expected, a unifying foundation for the leaders with a view to building the state. These events, on the contrary, consolidated an excessive nationalism in Haiti and the rejection of the international community. Note that this rejection has also been fueled by other events such as the US occupation (1915-1934) and the scandalous management by the international community of international aid to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. the most immoral act that France has committed in its entire history, the US occupation did not only have negative results, as the Americans laid the foundations for a modernization of the state,which were later destroyed by the Haitian "leaders".
When studying France's relationship with Africa after the independence wave of the 1960s, it can be concluded that the return to Haiti of the so-called compensation, estimated at almost 30 billion dollars, is a chimera. But if Haiti had received such a sum of money under the current conditions of the State, it would have been even more dismembered and atomized with more insecurity, more corruption, more human rights violations, due to the struggle of unspeakable interests and the absence of leadership. The squandering of Venezuela's support through the Petrocaribe program, which is estimated at about $ 4 trillion, confirms my assertion. As for the disastrous management of the 2010 disaster by the international community, it is already known, as David Rieff writes in his book
A bed for one night. Humanitarianism in crisis
(2002), “there are no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems”.
If Chile has been building its state to the point where its political party system, unlike the trend in the region, has been repeatedly compared to European systems, Haiti is the opposite.
The entire history of Haiti has been chaotic with coups d'état, incompetent rulers and obscurantists, except for very few.
That is why Haitian pride is based solely on the victory of independence, with the exception that President Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950) is recognized for some infrastructural works.
From the point of view of historical analysis, especially of national construction, the most important chapter in the history of Haiti, apart from the war for independence, is the Duvalierist thirty-year-old dictatorship, which allows us to see even better that the cause of the Haitian chaos is from absence of leaders and cannot be blamed on nature. Duvalier, because of his loyalty to the United States in the anti-communist struggle, received a lot of support from that country, an aid that could be used to lay the foundations for the country's economic development, as was the case in the neighboring Dominican Republic with the dictator Trujillo. However, Duvalier did not take advantage of his good relations with the United States to lay the foundations of the economy, but instead established a kleptocratic structure without significant investments in education, health and infrastructure. To have an idea,Only in the Baby Doc regime (1971-1986), the stolen sum was estimated between 300 million and 900 million dollars. Even so, the great works of Haiti were built during the Duvalierist dictatorship or during the American occupation. Unlike Duvalier, Pinochet reformed Chile's economy and laid the foundations for development.
The overcoming of the initial contradictions in Chile after independence through the construction of a centralized state in the mid-nineteenth century to the economic reforms of Pinochet made possible the emergence of electoral democracy in Chile. The benefits of Chile's integration can be seen from the work of Diego Portales with the fact that, until after the dictatorship, the extremist parties had no influence in politics. As for the economy, the sense of state made all the center-left governments of Chile, from 1990 to 2010, abandon the successful market policies implemented by Pinochet; which made the so-called “Chilean economic miracle” possible. However, in the Haitian case,the inexistence of a sense of state makes it impossible to continue in any policy, however excellent it may be. Each new government eliminates the initiatives of the previous one.
Pinochet's economic reforms were carried out by the so-called “Chicago Boys”, a group of Chilean economists trained at the University of Chicago. Something similar was done at the dawn of the 20th century in Mexico with the policies implemented by the so-called "scientists" in the governments of Porfirio Díaz. The reforms in both countries were thought and implemented by scientists. However, to think that Haitian politicians surround themselves with scientists or that the country is run by scientists is something unlikely, with the exception of the intellectual Leslie Manigat who in his four months of government in 1988 was accompanied by highly educated people. The excuse that is often heard in many Haitian circles is that Haiti is a special country where the successful experiences of other latitudes cannot be replicated. What's more,Haitian thinking tends to be communist or, at least, socialist, and this is explained above all by the great inequality of the country, one of the five most unequal in the world.
However, if Haiti still does not seem to have the minimum conditions for liberal democracy due to the absence of leadership, political parties, oriented public opinion, citizens with minimal levels of education and above all an even incipient middle class, the market economy, therefore otherwise, it should be encouraged. By creating wealth and generating jobs, the market improves the living conditions of citizens and gives the State the necessary resources to implement public policies capable of reducing inequality, offering more opportunities to those below. Furthermore, the market economy naturally provides a certain institutional culture to society, the absence of which seems to me to be the worst evil in Haiti.
One may wonder where or how Haiti would start to get on track in this new direction. I have seen some lights. First, unlike a few decades ago, all social groups today are aware that Haiti cannot continue like this because it is economically disadvantageous and socially inhospitable for everyone. Second, I know civil society groups, employers' associations, and even certain political leaders who work hard for change in Haiti; But they lack certain elements to make the "Haitian miracle" concrete, such as giving greater space to scientific reflection and developing strategic relationships with the international community. To do this, first of all, we must join forces and that has always been the lesson that Haiti has never been able to pass, except for the independence war. Nevertheless,I believe that this union is about to be achieved again.
Exceptionalism or the Chilean miracle comes from a combination of factors such as social integration in the 19th century, the formation of functional political parties and the adoption of the market economy, with the pending task of reducing inequality. This is what explains why Chile is a light for Latin America, a land where buildings resist earthquakes and which has become a pole of attraction for so many Haitians in search of better living conditions. Haiti has much to learn from Chile for its development and to prevent earthquakes from killing the population due to the absence of a State.
Joseph Harold Pierre
is a Haitian economist and political scientist, expert on Latin America and the Caribbean.
He has served as a consultant to governments and international organizations and is currently a doctoral student in Political Science at Nottingham Trent University in England.
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