Two Faces of Oppression in Haiti The stretch of land was gray and pock-marked like a des- olate moonscape. A swath of 1,000 shanties in Cite Soleil, Port- au-Prince's largest slum, had been burnt down on December 27th in retaliation for the death of Issa Paul, a militant of the right-wing FRAPH, the day before. The Janu- ary afternoon that I visited the site with NACLA' s fact-finding dele- gation, two weeks after the fire, some people were camped Out on the plots under the blazing tropical sun, afraid the government would use the opportunity to take away their land. According to residents, a gang of attachesparamilitary troops in civilian clotheshad descended upon the area in the afternoon and set houses alight with gasoline. As the fire took its deadly course, the men fired shots into the air to pre- vent people from fleeing the fire and neighbors from dousing the flames. In one particularly grue- some incident, a six-year-old girl trying to escape a burning shanty was allegedly shot in the arm and pushed back into the inferno. Wit- nesses testified that police stood idly by, and that the fire depart- ment was kept away. According to the Catholic human rights group Justice and Peace, some 70 people died in the fire, of which, the Hait- ian Press Agency reports, at least 30 were killed by gunshot. Some 5,000 people lost their homes. U.S.AID-funded Centers for Development and Health (CDS), having just received a $100,000 special grant for "disaster relief" from the U.S. Embassy, was promptly on the scene after the fire to distribute aid. Each family was supposed to be allotted some food and 15 Haitian dollars (about US$6). Attesting to the intricate web of repression, people claimed many of those handing out food aid were also among those who started the fire. Virulent arguments broke out among the residents on the day of our visit about how some fami- lies were denied assistance, while other people got more than their fair share. Others claimed that they were too intimidated to even try to register for aid. CDS says plans are in the works to rebuild the area. But Cite Soleil residents are wor- ried, unsure what the future holds and distrustful of CDS' intentions. C DSrun by wealthy Leba- nese businessman Reginald Boulos as his personal fief- domis a key prong in the effort to stifle dissent. Like the good cop/bad cop routine, CDS' social work has come to complement FRAPH's iron hand. Founded 20 years ago with funds from 100 privileged Haitian families, the center has grown over the years. U.S.AID came on board in 1980; today it is the principal backer of CDS' $2-million-a-year operation. The center operates three clinics in Cite Soleil, and sends volunteers into the neighborhoods to do a cen- sus and register the children in the preventative health care program. At the "Brooklyn" clinic, moth- ers with their infant children hold cards issued to them by CDS, and make their way among the stations set up for immunizations, weigh- ing, and vitamins. Another room is full of bassinets for 100 malnour- ished children who are brought to the clinic each day for feeding. In an interior courtyard, children dressed in neat red-aproned dresses and matching bows frolic. These are the "post-malnourished" chil- dren in the center's kindergarten program. No one disputes the fact that CDS is providing a useful service. It's only in the broader context that its potentially pernicious effects become apparent. Because the clin- ics cannot possibly provide full health services for everyone, a selection process is inevitable. "The poor who are compliant and docile get health services," explains Gerard Blot, a progressive doctor who is familiar with CDS. "Those who are more militant have trouble getting services." A select 100 malnourished babies are show- ered with attention and care, but what of the thousands of other impoverished children in the slum? Moreover, the user fees that patients must pay preclude the very poorest from receiving treatment. Because CDS tracks the move- ment of families into and out of the neighborhood, the organization's records would be a useful way for the army to control and monitor the population. Members of one grass- roots organization in Cite Soleil complained that Boulos' operation is full of "recycled Macoutes," and there is fear that the extensive dossiers that CDS keeps on each family might fall into the wrong hands. As Haiti languishes in its third year of military dictatorship, the protracted, often brutal work of consolidating the military regime is underway. Cite Soleil, along with other Aristide strongholds, has been targeted by the army in an effort to obliterate all opposition whether by the overt repression of FRAPH or the more subtle meth- ods of CDS. By funding organiza- tions such as CDS that may actual- ly be aiding the de facto regime, the U.S. government ends up send- ing mixed signals about its resolve to kick out the putschists.
