Mon. Apr. 17, 2023
When we hear the news about the crime and violence raging in the streets of Haiti, and the poverty and starvation being battled by the poor masses, it is tempting for those of us in better circumstances to shrug off the thought of their plight, and wonder what bad decisions they have made as a people, what corruption might exist in their governments, what bad luck came upon them, what evil could be in their midst that God must be punishing them for. Whatever we are tempted to think, few of us will make any connection between the perennial poverty and struggle of the Haitian nation and people, with the willful, orchestrated, militarily enforced exploitation of the Haitian people’s “blood, sweat and tears” for the past couple centuries after they had become the first people of the Caribbean to abolish slavery and declare the former slave colony as an independent nation of free people in 1804. Slavery was still in existence in Belize six years after the famous Battle of St. George’s Caye, when our Caribbean sister nation declared their independence from France, their former colonial masters.
Slavery was still a going concern in the United States to the north and the rest of the Caribbean and Central America to the south.
But Haiti, which had previously been the “crown jewel” of France, their most profitable colony upon which the wealth of France was built, was about to suffer immense pain for daring to be free.
Shaking off the yoke of slavery from their predominantly African population was not an easy task. But even more challenging was the survival of the new nation of free people, because other slave-holding nations feared the influence of Haiti would also infect their slaves and inspire them into similar rebellions. So, none of the other European powers would do business with Haiti. They all “ganged up” on Haiti – France, Spain, Great Britain and, yes, the United States of America. Without the benefit of trade as a young nation of politically free people, the pain of economic enslavement was about to begin.
Having won freedom for some 500,000 former slaves, each with a “head value” in the eyes of their former French slave-masters, the proud Haitian people were soon to witness a fleet of French warships arriving in their port, with a declared readiness to bomb, destroy and burn Haiti to the ground, unless their then president signed an agreement to make annual payments to France to compensate for the value of the slaves that France had lost with Haiti’s declared independence. Haiti has been paying back that debt ever since, resulting in massive under-development and intense poverty among the Haitian masses for the next two centuries. And when the Haitian people dared to elect a leader, a former priest, Jean Bertrand Aristide, who declared his intent to go to the United Nations demanding reparations in the billions of dollars from France for their unjust enrichment on the backs of the poor Haitian people, agents of big nations arranged his removal by a coup, just as they had done with Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala back in 1954, when Arbenz was pushing agrarian reform and giving lands for agriculture to the landless Mayan population. That coup in Guatemala sparked over thirty years of civil war, and much suffering and death among the poor in Guatemala. Haiti’s tragedy continues to this day, and the big nations who know what they have done to cause this, are mostly concerned with military intervention to stomp out the violence and put the Haitian troublemakers in their place, which means continued poverty and exploitation.
In Belize, if we are not careful, times could get rough, much “more rough” for the masses of poor people, as prices get higher, and crime increases among the desperate fringes of the unemployed and/or uneducated. Regardless of the ethnicity or culture, poverty and ignorance of the masses, the presence of obscene affluence among a small wealthy class tends to breed crime and violence in every society.
Belizeans need to become conscious of, and understand the pieces of the puzzle that have led to the huge crisis being experienced presently by our Haitian brothers and sisters. It is important for our leaders to know how best to assist Haiti to overcome their plight, rather than becoming an obstacle to their true liberation from the tentacles of manipulation and exploitation by big and powerful nations. Small as we are, our voice carries some value on the international stage; that is why our friendship is so valued by our Taiwanese ally.
What France has done to Haiti, a British “investor” has been doing to our little Belize. Yes, he has won just about every case he has brought against our Government, sometimes with the collusion and connivance of some of our own leaders, but more often with the “fire power” of his top international lawyers. While our national fervor has driven us to condemn his manipulation of the capitalist system always to his advantage, nevertheless, the one Lord Michael Ashcroft has always “played by the rules,” the rules being the court of law, where his deep pockets either allow him to outwit local opponents or simply wear out his adversaries with repeated litigation. His legal victories, and there have been quite a few over the years, beginning with his takeover of BTL in the 1990s, have had little moral worth in the eyes of the Belizean people, whose taxes end up carrying the burden for every case lost to Ashcroft by our Belize government.
When government lacks the resources to provide healthcare for its poor people, the slide into desperation and destitution can be quick and painful. Whenever Ashcroft wins millions on the front end from our government, individual citizens feel the pain on the back end; and it is becoming more and more real in these inflationary times.
A middle-aged woman and her retired husband can be happy and relaxed today, and in a couple months’ time, her world is upside down. He gets sick, some five hundred dollars from their savings for a CAT scan. Boom! It’s prostate cancer; advanced. The medical bills pile up fast. And in a few months, he’s gone. She draws the last of their savings to deal with the funeral. A loan of a couple thousand dollars was also necessary, because they have not made the necessary contributions to qualify for any assistance from “Social.” Jewelry, whatever she had, has already been sold or pawned. A proud, God- fearing Belize woman is now looking at desperation; a hundred-dollar loan payment is due. She is broke, and hungry, and things are falling apart. Tears quickly flow.
As a people, we have to find ways to come together to “help our falling brothers/sisters.” As the economic situation gets worse, more and more individuals could fall into the pit of desperation and crisis. We must at least be able to provide food to sustain us through the tough times.
In these hard times, it is not nice when we hear that Ashcroft is suing our government, again. The millions he extracts from government, is money that could help feed and provide healthcare for our struggling masses.
If there is any hope for little Belize, it is in our old time saying, that “every fat fowl got ih Sunday.” Let’s pray that for once this cruel corporate creature has bitten a poisoned berry in daring to challenge the whole global environmental movement because our government listened to the expert advice of our National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC) and decided that his Waterloo cruise tourism project involved too much risk for a World Heritage Site, our precious Belize Barrier Reef.
For once, let’s hope that Ashcroft loses this time. The road is already rough ahead, and our people shouldn’t be forced to endure any unnecessary pain because of one man’s greed and ego.