by Pascal Robert
In the video below, CEO of Global Renewable Energy, Fred E. Price discusses the neo-liberal plan for taking over La Gonave, Haiti: A small island to the west of Haiti's mainland under its domain. This plan came close to being consummated in 2009 with the full participation of the Haitian government, but voices advised the government that it was not to the advantage of the Haitian people. After the January 12, 2010 earthquake, how we can be sure such plans have not been revived.
Haiti: Island For Sale
by Pascal Robert
In 1492 Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola at the behest of the Spanish Crown. The power of Spain and its mighty navy underwrote the murderous plan set forth to exploit Hispaniola's riches. Quoting Las Casas' statement', a contemporary of Columbus in Hispaniola in 1508, Howard Zinn writes in his famous book, "A People's History of the United States"
"there were 60,000 people living on this island, including the Indians; so that from 1494 to 1508, over three million people had perished from war, slavery, and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this."
In Haiti, there are plenty of reasons to believe it.
Today, no such demonstrations of imperial might are needed to have the French speaking portion of Hispaniola again be raped by Western powers for its riches. After the colossal disaster of the January 12, 2010, earthquake in which estimates of over 200,000 Haitians lost their lives, the government of Haiti, instead of setting forth plans to give some modicum of dignity to its people now living in tent cities throughout the land, has decided to act like the restaveks (indentured servants) to Western Corporatists and Haiti's traditional parasitic "commercial elite" by facilitating wholesale sell offs of Haitian assets and natural resources such as oil, gold, and farmland. The first reading of that statement might give one pause knowing that Haiti has traditionally been flaunted by America and Europe as "the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere." Quite ironically, recent discoveries have shown that poverty-even in a country with as dismal a quality of life that most Haitians live-is a relative statement when it comes to geopolitics.
The speculations about the natural resources mentioned above need to cease. The current Prime Minister of Haiti, Jean Max Bellerive has already admitted publicly that not only is there oil, gold, most likely iridium in Haiti, but that contracts with certain "undisclosed entities" have already been made for exploitation of such natural resources. At a conference of Haitian Diaspora held in Montreal Canada designed to discuss the rebuilding of Haiti in March, 2010, Bellerive made the following unvarnished pronouncements:
See this link.
1 - There is oil in Haiti.
2 - Contracts regarding the exploitation of oil in Haiti and oil refineries are currently underway.
3 - Bellerive declared he had knowledge of documentation about the presence of Iridium in Haiti.
4 - Contracts have already been signed and work is in progress for the exploitation of Gold in Haiti. 10 millions dollars have been invested by CFI (the World Bank private sector) in relationship with the IMF for a project worth billions of dollars.
The rest of this article is at Huffington Post. Click here to open it in another browser window.
This week’s featured author is Foluke Adebisi. Adebisi is Associate Professor at the University of Bristol. Her book is Decolonisation and Legal Knowledge: Reflections on Power and Possibility.
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