February 26-March 3, 2004

city beat

Galewarning

by Daryl Gale

Haiti: A Weighty Issue

As a young sailor in the U.S. Coast Guard a little more than 20 years ago, I participated in what came to be known as the Haitian Interdiction. Thousands upon thousands of Haitian refugees, most aboard cobbled vessels too unseaworthy to be called boats, braved nearly 500 miles of choppy Caribbean water and headed for Miami and, they hoped, a new life of freedom and prosperity. Nearly every day, the footage was on the evening news: people dressed in rags hoisted onto Coast Guard cutters only moments before their raggedy boat sank beneath the waves.

Thousands more didn't make it. Their bodies either were never recovered or eventually floated ashore, horrifying the Florida beachgoers.

I was stationed on board one of those cutters, and the memories will haunt me for life. I even spent a couple of days in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, and saw firsthand the conditions of the Haitian people's lives. At the time, the country was under the control of President for Life Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who ruled Haiti in the family tradition -- with an iron fist. His father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, was a brutal dictator whose 1971 death was anything but a relief for the Haitian people.

Nineteen-year-old Baby Doc picked up where his dad left off; his reign of terror was enforced by his dreaded secret police, the Tontons Macoutes. Baby Doc's famous quote, "It is the destiny of the people of Haiti to suffer," became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Haitians were a frightened, desperate people gladly willing to risk death by drowning over death by machete. Duvalier was exiled to France in 1986, but the country has never been able to recover, and democracy is slow in coming.

That's why I've been keenly following the news reports from Haiti lately.

The similarities are frightening.

Haiti is the world's first truly independent black republic, having fought for, and won, its independence from the French in 1804. It's the second-oldest independent nation in our hemisphere, behind the U.S., but its struggle to gain footing on the world stage and respect as a sovereign country is an ongoing struggle. The World Bank lists Haiti as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, with a per capita gross domestic product of $460, a figure that has stagnated for decades and even fallen in the last. According to the United Nations and the World Bank, half of Haiti's adults are illiterate. Jobs are scarce. Most in the country live without electricity or running water and most children don't even own a single pair of shoes.

Add to this mix the boiling political tensions that currently has Haitians on the brink of yet another bloody civil war, and it's not too far of a stretch to imagine a resurrection of the desperation that led so many of their countrymen to gladly face the prospect of drowning on the high seas.

Hoping I wasn't alone in my sense of deja vu, I recently spoke to Jocelyn McCalla, executive director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, and asked him about the similarities between the recent bloodshed and the Haiti of the early 1980s, and why Americans should care.

"What we're witnessing is a tragedy not unlike during the reign of Baby Doc Duvalier," McCalla told me in his lilting Haitian accent. "The Tontons Macoutes have been replaced by the chimeres, street gangs who are loyal to President [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide. They rob, rape and kill people who dare to speak out against Aristide, and disrupt protests, beating protesters in the streets as a warning. Aristide may not be Duvalier, but he is a megalomaniac who has done everything to preserve his power."

Wait a second, I interrupted. Wasn't Aristide elected freely, then ousted by coup, and then reinstated with the assistance of the U.S.? Isn't this just another case of American foreign policy propping up some pinhead as a national leader, only to disavow him when it turns out he's just as much a dictatorial asshole as the last guy?

"The short answer is yes," McCalla laughs. "In that sense, you're right. But here's the big difference -- unlike in many parts of the world, like the Middle East, the problem, if unchecked, will end up at America's doorstep, just like we saw in the '80s. You and I were both there at the time and we saw the devastation. Do you think the American people want a repeat of that?"

Nobody wants to see bodies washing up on the sunny Florida shores, I told McCalla. Bad for tourism.

"The U.S. should work with democratically minded Haitians and Haitian expatriates to build the infrastructure," McCalla said. "It does no good to push democracy while people have no food, clothing or education. People need to see that democracy has practical benefits, not just political ideals. Show what America truly stands for and the people will follow the cause of true justice and freedom."

If McCalla's right, either we can start get involved in truly spreading democracy in Haiti, or we can start shipping lots of body bags to the Coast Guard Seventh District office in Miami.

Speaking from experience, I prefer the former.

Daryl Gale’s weekly radio show, Dialogues, with co-hosts Rotan Lee and Bill Miller, is burning up the airwaves Fridays 7-10 a.m. on WURD (900 AM) in Philadelphia.