International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

From scandal to scandal in Haiti

Arthur Mahon — 2020-02-02T06:23:40Z

On 12 January 2010 a powerful earthquake devastated the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The buildings were often badly made, with poor quality cement. About 250,000 people were killed (one person in ten) and hundreds of thousands were injured or missing. Since then, the damaged houses have hardly been repaired and new homes have been built in the same way as they were before the earthquake, without taking into account anti-seismic standards.

- IV541 - February 2020 / Haiti

Unprecendented mobilizations in Haiti

Arthur Mahon — 2019-12-22T08:08:19Z

The mobilizations that paralysed a large part of Haiti for two months, from mid-September to mid-November 2019, were exceptional. They were the temporary culmination of a movement that started in the summer of 2018, which resurged several times. The spark came in July 2018 following an increase in the price of petroleum products. Then the denunciation of a huge financial scandal, the Petrocaribe fund affair, took on an unprecedented scale. In September 2019, a general shortage of petrol led to the protests, which until then had mainly affected the big cities, spreading throughout the country.

- IV539 - December 2019 / Haiti

Fall of the house of Aristide

Arthur Mahon — 2004-05-16T00:00:00Z

More than two thousand hundred dollar bills, rendered unreadable by mildew! The Aristide supporters who took part in the looting of his residence were surprised to find this sum in a strongbox concealed in a subterranean hideaway. They then understood that for their dear president, 200,000 dollars represented no great amount. To understand the current situation, we have to imitate the behaviour of these Aristide supporters, ignore our first impressions, and dig a little deeper into Haitian politics.

- IV359 - May/June 2004 / Haiti