Opinion piece about Haitians fleeing Haiti, computer translated:
La República Wednesday, September 29, 2021 | |
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Haiti: a migratory iceberg that violates hemispheric security
Carlos R. Altuna Tezanos
Santo Domingo, RD
On January 12, 2010, the date that would attribute the emergence of an overflowing Haitian migrant that affects the security of the entire region of the American continent, whose tip of the “migratory iceberg” only the Dominican Republic warned, since it suffered the onslaught of its effects a lot. before the devastating earthquake that wreaked havoc in Port-au-Prince, causing the death of some 316,000 people, 350,000 injured and 1.5 million homeless, considered one of the most serious humanitarian catastrophes in history.
This event was undoubtedly the trigger that led to the largest exodus of Haitians up to that time. But, although eleven years have passed since that fateful event, we see how this Caribbean nation has been trapped in a whirlwind of social, economic and political degradation, which with the inexorable passage of time turned it into a failed and unviable state.
In the middle of the year 2021, two terrible misfortunes befall him in a sequential manner: the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse (July 7) and the earthquake that occurred in the city of Les Cayes (August 14), a context that rapidly increased even more the dire situation prevailing. of Haiti, transfiguring in an inhospitable and unviable area to live.
Misfortune seems to be an intrinsic peculiarity in this nation, just look at its history. Unfortunately, Haiti continues to be trapped in time and space in its ancestral circumstances, clinging to an eternal "circle of chaos", where an oligarchy that benefits from the violence, corruption, destruction, impunity and ungovernability of a people mired in total poverty, and where the dominance of the strongest or the law imposed by the armed gangs prevails.
In this sense, the National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantling and Reintegration (CNDDR), assured about the existence of some 90 gangs and 500,000 illegal weapons circulating, which apparently govern and control the territory, filling a void left by decades of collapse, led by a former former police officer, Jimmy - Barbecue - Cherizier, who achieved a gang alliance in the so-called G9, in addition to having close ties with politicians and law enforcement.
Faced with the prevailing chaos, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, Bruno Lemarquis, pointed out that his work depended if the "will of the gangs" allowed him. Along the same lines, the director of Doctors without Borders, Julien Bartoletti, stated that the "situation is so dangerous, that it suggests thinking of the country as a war zone", which forced the closure of the Martissant hospital after 15 years of free services .
To all this, we should add the warning released in December 2019, by the World Food Program (WFP-UN), where it established that one in three Haitians –4 million people– demanded “urgent food assistance” and almost one million suffered from "severe hunger."
While the international community seems to be in a kind of induced coma, it candidly only observes how Haiti methodically disintegrates, limiting itself to offering humanitarian aid or helping it in the event of calamities or natural events. A reality that pushes Haitians to emigrate to any place, even though it costs them their lives.
Observing the current situation, it seems that they have strictly complied with one of the recommendations of the study carried out by the UN on May 26, 1947, called “A Mission in Haiti”. Although 75 years had passed since that premonition, that study suggested to the Haitian government at that time, as a warning, the following: “Aware of the fact that Haiti will be, for many years to come, imprisoned by an ever-growing population. The mission recommends that the possibility of encouraging emigration be examined with the greatest care, as a means of remedying the serious problem of overpopulation ”.
Migratory reality that at the moment only directly impacted the Dominican Republic, where approximately 1.5 million Haitian citizens live, and about five years ago to Brazil and Chile; The first, at the time, needed manpower to build the infrastructures for the World Cup (2014) and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (2020), receiving some 143,000. Chile was attracted by its economy and development, according to the National Institute of Statistics 1,492,522 foreigners reside in its territory, of which the Haitian community occupies a third place, with 186,565, equivalent to 12.5%.
Due to the effects of the pandemic, job loss, paralyzed economies and tightening of immigration laws, it forced Haitians to wander to other countries and, without orchestrating a directed plan, they focused as the objective of their migratory pilgrimage, the United States of North America.
This silent migratory flow became visible when, in a kind of funnel, they met in Necoclí, a Colombian town on the border with Panama, to cross the famous “Darien Gap” and continue their journey through Central America to the United States.
Today, Colombia, Central America and the United States suffer the brunt of an overwhelming Haitian migration, only with the difference that ours is permanent. Mexico, the last country before reaching their desired goal, made the city of Acuña an improvised refuge to then cross the Rio Grande, awaiting their application for immigration admission under the international bridge that connects with the North American city of Del Río. where between 15 and 20 thousand Haitians settled.
Overflow, which forced the US to react to stop the flow of Haitians who crossed uncontrollably into their territory in order to preserve their national security, where the dismayed world observed Dantesque scenes, of how the nation that exhibits dignity and Respect for human rights as the standard of its democracy, it expelled Haitians at any cost. This prompted the resignation of the United States special envoy in Haiti, Daniel Foote, who in his letter stated: "I will not associate myself with the inhumane and counterproductive decision of the United States to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal migrants to Haiti."
Preamble, which served as an excellent platform for President Luis Abinader to address the Haitian situation during his speech to the 76th UN Assembly, taking advantage of this scenario to denounce to the world the serious crisis that Haiti is going through. Noting in his speech: “For years, every day, our country has faced, practically alone, these consequences. We are convinced that no unilateral action will be sufficient to overcome this dramatic situation ... He warned that given the current division that exists between the Haitian leadership and the dangerous presence of criminal gangs that control a good part of their territory, Haitians alone will not be able to pacify their country, much less guarantee the conditions to establish a minimum order ”.
He stated that “The Haitian situation may exceed the borders of that country, influencing as a factor of insecurity in the region. Hence, the need for this community of nations to assume urgently and once and for all, the Haitian crisis as one of the highest priority and of permanent monitoring ... It is imperative to express, as firmly and bluntly as possible, that the The international community should not, and cannot, abandon the Haitian people at this time when levels of insecurity are leading to their self-destruction ... The Haitian situation is a dramatic situation that, in order to face it, requested international collaboration with "high priority", due to that "there is not, nor will there ever be a Dominican solution to the crisis in Haiti." We are sure,
The author is a founding member of the Delta Circle
El 12 de enero del 2010, fecha que atribuiria el surgimiento de una migratoria haitiana desbordante que afecta la seguridad de toda la region del continent
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