Norris McDonald | Haiti: Nuff gold, plenty oil and bad juju
Published:Wednesday | August 11, 2021 | 12:06 AM
“Pou yon ti moso demokrasi
(For a piece of democracy)
Wachintonn fe Ayiti filiang
(Washington is teasing Haiti)
Ala Wachintonn chich papa!
(How Stingy Washington is, papa!)”
American domination of Haiti is like a case of bad juju and the recent brutal murder of President Jovenel Moise tells us – just like how bad juju is dangerous – nothing good will ever come from the continued US interference in Haitian politics.
Poor President Jovenel Moise. He didn’t deserve to die like that. This was a murder and “document recovery mission”, new evidence is now revealing.
A New York Times report of July 15 said the Colombian attackers were led to believe the operation “was supported by the US government”.
While the US government has denied any involvement, it is still unclear why Colombian terrorists, ‘kill-squad’, reportedly shouted “DEA operation, stand down!”.
That was clearly “a pre-planned tactics” that helped to confuse and perhaps psychologically neutralise President Moise’s security detail.
The killers knew what they were looking for, found it and then left, after they murdered President Moise!
France Robles reports in The New York Times, August 2, quoting the now sadly widowed First Lady Martine Moise, who said that, once inside the presidential residence, the leader of the attackers shouted “Where is it! Where is it!”.
According to the evidence uncovered, over 30 US-trained Colombian terrorists took part in the July 7 cowardly attack. Some were killed, in the aftermath, while others were captured.
Several American citizens are now being investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is assisting the Haitian National Police.
Walter Vientemillia, the head of Worldwide Capital, a South Florida investment firm, is named in the investigation as a possible financier of the operation, along with Anthony Intriago, the head of a Miami-based security company, CTU, who is fingered as a paramilitary coordinator.
In 2019, there was a similar US$1.2-billion murder plot against Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, in which 300 US-trained Colombian terrorists entered Venezuela but were caught before they could carry out their dastardly act.
After the Maduro murder plot was foiled, it was revealed that the terrorists got several hundred million dollars upfront, along with a contractual promise of cash payments plus “future revenue from Venezuelan oil”.
GOLD RESERVES
What then is the financial inducement offered to the ‘American Don-Daddas’ who reportedly planned this operation?
Were they promised a ‘cut’ from Haiti’s estimated multibillion gold and oil reserves?
Haiti has an estimated US$20 billion in gold reserves, with at least three foreign companies involved in mining and exploration – Newmont Ventures Limited, VCS Mining and Majors.
Haiti receives a royalty payment rate of 2.5 per cent over a 25-year period for the country’s gold-mining concession. This is the lowest rate paid in the whole world!
In comparison, Peru charges 12 per cent, while Ecuador charges between five and eight per cent.
• Who owns these companies, and are there any connections to Haitian politicians?
• How much profit are they making, and how is it distributed?
• How much money has been paid to the Haitian government?
OIL AND GAS WEALTH
Haiti also has oil and gas “along the same continental shelf as Venezuela”.
“Haiti’s oil reserves are larger than those of Venezuela,” Dr Daniel Mathurin, a French scientist, told worldoil.com in a January 27, 2010 interview.
Dr Mathurin cited a “US 2000 geological survey” that estimates Haiti’s economic reserves could be “as high as 942 million barrels of oil and 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas”.
There are 20 high-yield oil and gas fields in Haitian waters, with five having extremely great potential to generate wealth, Dr Mathurin concluded.
I know what you are thinking!
If Haitian waters have the potential to yield so much oil and gas wealth, why are they so poor and why aren’t these resources on the market right now?
The international capitalist would perhaps argue that, with world oil and gas market buffeted by so much uncertainties, it is not in their interest to do so right now.
Meanwhile, Navassa is a potential oil-rich Haitian island located between Haiti, Jamaica and Cuba. It is reportedly claimed by America as her territory.
ExxonMobil is planning oil and gas explorations in Haitian-Navassa waters, under American “legal” protection, reports say.
Woe betide Haiti!
AMERICAN ‘BAD JUJU’
This is bad juju. This ‘American chokehold’ over Haitian political and economic affairs.
America has maintained a hegemonic influence over Haitian political life. They imposed and have propped up unpopular governments and dictatorships – who are human rights abusers – since the 1915 US invasion of Haiti.
The closest the Haitian people came to have a say over their lives was the 1990 landslide election of Bertrand Aristides and his populist Lavalas movement.
But again, frustration.
In 1991, Aristide was overthrown in a coup d’état and forced into exile. He subsequently returned to power in 1994 and served until 1996.
In 2003, Aristide was re-elected president. Thereafter, he filed an international lawsuit demanding repayment of US$21 billion. France made Haiti pay for the recognition of the 1804 political independence.
Haiti’s 1791-1804 anti-slavery revolution was truly a historic act. It was the first Black revolution in the world.
After this claim was filed, Aristide’s government was overthrown in an ostensibly US and French-sponsored military coup.
Aristide was then put on a US military plane and flown out of the country and ‘banned from participating in the 2010 elections’ ( JubileeDebt.org)
Haiti’s national debt is US$4 billion, which would be wiped out if France returned their ill-gotten gains.
To wrap up.
• President Moise’s murder plot with a foreign terrorist invasion force is a gross violation of his human rights and dignity and that of his family.
• It was a violation of Haitian sovereignty, a breach of peace, international law and the norms and rights of human justice.
• Only an independent, international tribunal, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), can sort this terrible mess and, perhaps, bring all perpetrators to justice.
That is just ‘the bitta truth!’
- Norris McDonald is a respiratory therapist, social researcher, and political analyst. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com