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Money, U.S. meddling and the Clintons

By Lamont Muhammad | Last updated: Nov 24, 2014 - 8:48:36 AM

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Angry protestors denounce Bill and Hillary’s adventures in Haiti

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President Aristide’s ouster was supported by current Haitian President Michel Martelly said demonstrators outside Clinton Foundation headquarters in New York.

NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - A group of Haitian nationals, supporters and organizers from the tri-state region here, according to organizers, gathered on a damp and rainy Thursday in front of the 125th Street Harlem offices of the former two-term president to ask a simple question: “Bill Clinton, where’s the money?”

“We have come to ask Bill, the special envoy and head of the Haitian Reconstruction Fund, what has been done with the $6 billion Haitian earthquake reconstruction money?” said demonstration organizer Dahoud Andre. Nearly five years after the 2010 disaster, he said, “No permanent housing has been built. People are still living in tents.”

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Demonstrators say Haiti’s president is not fit to represent the country.

He called current Haitian president Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly a puppet of the United States, the United Nations, France, Canada, and other White nations determined to plunder and destroy Haiti.

Demonstrators accused former Secretary of State and former U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of installing the current Haitian president. During the crisis in Egypt in 2011, the wife of the former president went to Haiti to twist the arms of the electoral counsel and ensure Mr. Martelly would become president, they said. Mr. Martelly came in third during the first round of voting, said Mr. Andre.

The Final Call made several calls to the Clinton Foundation for comment but none of the calls were returned.

Wilner Kebreau, a spokesperson for the Haitian Consulate in New York, conceded during a telephone interview that some Haitians remain homeless and living in tents as a result of the earthquake that devastated Haiti. “There were 1.5 million people who were made homeless by that earthquake,” he said. “Today, an estimated 70,000 displaced people are still waiting for permanent housing. The others have been placed in brand new homes. There have been homes that were repaired in some cases and the government is building safe apartments for others in new communities. Mortgages and rents for the homes and apartments have been paid for one year in advance by this government,” Mr. Kebreau explained.

“The opposition is using unfounded claims and slogans to attack the facts. The fact is that President Martelly was and is very popular. He had name recognition and ran a well-organized campaign. After the first round, in which Martelly came in third, the Haitian people came out to protest the election results. They smelled a rat. The results from the second round of voting, after pressure from the people, gave Martelly 70 percent support. It was a landslide in his favor. The Clintons had no part in that vote. It was the people,” he continued.

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A woman walks away from a fire raging on Jan. 29, 2010 through Port-au-Prince's market area. Ever since the earthquake fires have been a frequent occurrence in the Haitian capital. Photo: UN Photo/Marco Dormino

Flyers handed out at the Nov. 6 demonstration were two sided and colorful. One side was in English, the other in Haitian Creole. Both sides featured the same three photos. One titled “the degenerate in action,” showed Mr. Martelly, who gained fame as a musician, gripping his groin while scantily dressed. The other two photos were of Mr. Clinton seemingly endorsing the candidacy of Mr. Martelly and President Martelly at the U.S. State Department being praised by Hillary Clinton.

Demonstrators noted that Haiti’s president gained fame as a musician by outlandish performances which often included dressing in drag and stripping on stage. “He even mooned (showed his bottom to) a representative of the Organization of American States at the airport as he was leaving,” said Mr. Andre. The Organization of American States had gone to Haiti to negotiate the return to office of democratically-elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

“Martelly was known to support the military coup that sent Aristide into exile in 1991. He’s a degenerate crack head, not a serious politician,” Mr. Andre charged.

Mr. Kebreau countered that President Aristide needed to be removed from power. The country was plagued by kidnappings and people being killed in the streets when Mr. Aristide was president, he argued. “Those who could afford to left the country. Martelly took his family out. Now things are better. The economy is better and kidnappings are down. In fact, there was one two months ago and the police caught the perpetrator two days later,” he said.

Another criticism leveled against the Clintons and the Haitian government at the demonstration was that most of the rebuilding contracts have gone to foreign firms. One online report cited by demonstrators said less than one percent of all rebuilding contracts are with Haitian firms.  Mr. Kebreau agreed.

“We don’t have one company that has the tools, the ability or the experience to rebuild Haiti.  The good news is that the foreign companies that are rebuilding the country are required to hire Haitians. Haitians are now gaining the experiences they need to rebuild this country into the future,” he said.