Talk:Zanmi Lasante

Letter from Caribbean News Net
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Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com Letter: American imperialism and Zanmi Lasante, Haiti Published on Thursday, July 3, 2008

Dear Sir: Thanks to America's "imperialist" determination to see a project (Peligre Hydroelectric Dam) completed and combined with Duvalier's infrastructure initiatives, you have a success story that helps hundreds of thousands of Haitians.

Lac Peligre Dam was built in the 1950s and the hydroelectric plant wasn't completed until 1971 but it was completed! Papa Doc fought the USA for control of the project but the US demanded control over hiring, firing, paying and funding for the project. Imagine that!

The imperialists and Duvalier combined to provide Haiti with its last major energy producing infrastructure project in 1971. A project that continues to pay dividends (albeit diminished) to this day. I wish the USA had the same backbone today with regards to infrastructure projects.

Let's take a look at the major benefactor of this imperialist benevolence.

The site is called Zanmi Lasante, a socio-medical complex that is very well lit, offices are air-conditioned, and hallways and patient rooms are equipped with UV lamps and they have internet. It also features a 104-bed, full-service hospital with two operating rooms, adult and pediatric inpatient wards, an infectious disease center (the Thomas J. White Center), an outpatient clinic, a women’s health clinic (Proje Sante Fanm), ophthalmology and general medicine clinics, a laboratory, a pharmaceutical warehouse, a Red Cross blood bank, radiographic services, and a dozen schools

While the rest of Haiti is starved for electricity, how does this exist in a remote, tiny village, called Cange? Simple. They have tapped into (I assume they're paying for it) the nearby electrical output from the imperialists' Peligre Hydroelectric Dam.

You would assume that Zanmi Lasante (ZL) would be grateful for the USA's foresight and determination that resulted in the electrical output and benefits that Peligre Dam provides. Well, you'd be wrong!

Here's their take on the Peligre Dam from their website and I quote: "1956, Haiti's largest river, the Artibonite, is dammed as part of an international development project, causing area farmers to lose their land, livelihoods, and homes and to move further up the mountain". Talk about arrogance!

While Haitians starve for electricity, this "golden city of energy consumption" in Cange, Haiti decries the very project that allows for their existence. If ZL had existed in the 1950's, they would have attempted to stop the Peligre Dam from ever being constructed thereby nullifying their own existence. Hypocrisy at its utmost!

So what's the deal here? Why on Earth would ZL condemn the construction of the Peligre Dam? The answer lies in their own description as a "socio" medical operation in Haiti and their Imperialist masters called "Partners in Health (PIH)" Boston, MA..

ZL receives funding from PIH who receives its funds by taking a "Hate America First" message to its donors. What? That doesn't make sense? It does with a minority of extreme left activists in the USA. Regardless of what America does or has done they put a negative spin on the effort (e.g. the Peligre Dam).

This hits home with the donors and out come the pocket-books and cash. PIH is pro-Aristide, not because they like him or his regime but simply because the USA ousted Aristide and therefore affords a chance to cry "imperialist" and ring the cash register.

PIH/ZL's current "Hate America First" fund raiser is entitled "Right to Water in Haiti" which, coupled with George Soros and the RFK Memorial Center, lambasts America as depriving Haitians of their right to water.

Here's a snippet of the report: "...the report exposes the U.S. government’s role in blocking the disbursal of millions of dollars in loans that would have had life-saving consequences for the Haitian people. The loans, which the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved in 1998 for urgently needed water and sanitation projects in Haiti, were derailed in 2001 by politically-motivated, behind-the-scenes interventions on behalf of the United States and other members of the international community".

Now that sounds treacherous, sinister, evil, and perfect for ringing the cash registers.

PIH/ZL is complaining that the USA is blocking financial aid from reaching Haiti. Surely, PIH/ZL knows that Haiti ranked in the bottom one percent of all countries on corruption and government effectiveness, so what's the deal on this attitude? Well according to PIH/ZL's website: They have "launched aggressive advocacy plans for government accountability in international financial institutions and to ensure that funds entering Haiti are implemented within a human rights framework."

So what the heck does that mean? It means that any future foreign aid needs to be vetted by PIH/ZL before any more Peligre Dams will be built. They want to be the gatekeepers of the cash inflows from imperialist nations as they know best how to spend that money. PIH/ZL recently entered Rwanda (2005) and in 2007 the salaries of PIH/ZL personnel accounted for over 47% ($1.424 million USD) of outlays on Rwanda. Rwanda is great PR and really nice bonuses for the staff.

Between 1990 and 2005 the USA gave Haiti $1.5 billion USD. That's just the USA and doesn't include all of the US "grants" and "loans" that have never been paid back. Add those in, and you're over $2 billion USD. This is far more money than any other Caribbean nation received. So where did it all go? Too long a discussion but if you have Google Earth on your PC, go to this pointer location: 18.31.26.76 and you'll be looking at Bellville Haiti and the homes of Aristide's buddies. Look just to the right of this enclave and see where/how the rest of Haiti lived under Aristide.

It always comes down to following the money trail.

PS. Stop in at ZL in Cange, Haiti (if you can find it) and see if you're welcomed with open arms and offered to view their facilities. Don't count on it. They walk and talk with great suspicion and unwillingness to be open about their facility. Speak Anglais, well you better be known beforehand as a friend of the "Hate America First" crowd or expect the cold shoulder.

George Grunner Atlanta, GA