A string of intense hurricanes wreaked havoc and destruction in Central America and the Caribbean throughout September, leaving several beleaguered administrations of the region struggling to provide aid to the victims. Over a short period of time, 12 tropical storms and seven hurricanes caused many deaths and billions of dollars in damages, provoking a particularly acute humanitarian disaster in Haiti.
In mid-August hurricane Charley killed four in Cuba, and later Ivan caused widespread destruction in the country’s western province of Pinar del Río, prompting mass evacuations. The tropical storms similarly hit parts of Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, Panama and Venezuela. Hurricane Ivan pounded Grenada on September 7, reportedly killing 39 people and leveling 90% of the buildings on the island—leaving about 60,000 people homeless and strangling the country’s economy. Haiti has suffered the greatest catastrophe so far, with flooding and mudslides caused by hurricane Jeanne claiming over 1,500 lives around Gonaïves.
Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the international community for assistance in providing water, food and shelter to the 300,000 people affected by the storm. The International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies mobilized an urgent aid operation, requiring assistance from the UN peacekeeping mission to ferry in supplies by helicopter to otherwise inaccessible areas. On September 22, UN soldiers fired shots in the air to control the desperate crowds of Haitians during food distribution. Angry groups set tires aflame in the streets to protest insufficient government action while unidentified victims were buried in mass graves. With most hospitals and morgues out of service, international aid organizations warned that the lack of potable water could cause an epidemic. The Brazilian commander of the UN peacekeeping mission, Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira, told a Brazilian wire service that he was frustrated with the slow pace of relief delivery to Gonaïves, where some of the city’s notorious street gangs were hijacking food shipments at gunpoint and many residents were undergoing emergency amputations in atrocious hospital conditions.
In response to the Red Cross’ appeal for $3.3 million, the European Union immediately pledged $1.8 million in aid and countries such as Japan, Canada, Argentina and Venezuela made significant contributions. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) made an initial meager contribution of $50,000 and dispatched a two-person emergency disaster team. After sharp criticism by a Florida congressman, USAID confirmed a $2 million aid package on September 23 destined for nongovernmental organizations involved in the relief effort.
Widespread poverty and poor environmental conditions make Haiti especially vulnerable to natural disaster: only four months before hurricane Jeanne, an estimated 3,000 people died in floods along the border with the Dominican Republic. The severely deforested Haitian countryside lacks sufficient topsoil and is prone to mudslides and floods—98% of Haiti is stripped bare, and wood and charcoal account for 71% of fuel consumption. While several international development programs have initiated environmental recuperation plans, Haiti’s pervasive poverty drives its residents to cut down any remaining trees to sell for additional income.
Political instability has also hindered aid efforts. Since the removal of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide by the United States earlier this year, a fragile interim “civil protection agency” was created to handle such national disasters. However, the agency was virtually powerless when it came to bringing relief to the battered northwest, and Prime Minister Latortue was not even able to enter Gonaïves for nearly a week after the storm. The current political situation makes aid efforts and reconstruction practically impossible, and the only immediate solution on the table is a mass evacuation of the displaced to a tent city.
According to the New York-based International Action Center, during this time of national emergency the U.S.-backed interim government of Haiti has been preoccupied with violently repressing the supporters of deposed President Aristide. Indeed, for Haiti-based journalist Kevin Pina the tragedy of Gonaïves has eclipsed “an even more tragic story, which is the continuing repression of Lavalas”—the mass movement that brought Aristide to power. Violence escalated with police actions against pro-Aristide demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien on September 30. In early October, Lavalas supporters began responding in kind, attacking police with machetes and reportedly beheading three on October 1. A government spokesperson claimed this was part of “Operation Bagdhad,” an urban guerrilla movement emulating the decapitations by hostage-takers in Iraq. These developments prompted senior UN envoy to Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdés, to call upon Haitians “to avoid being drawn into a vicious cycle of revenge and violence and to follow the path of dialogue, reconciliation and peace.”
As the civil conflict intensifies, much of the burden of the aid operations have fallen on the shoulders of the UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti, which is additionally responsible for the difficult task of maintaining security in the increasingly chaotic country.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James T. Kimer is NACLA’s editorial assistant.
