By Ken Jones, ContributorMANY JAMAICANS understandably are concerned about the cost of keeping Mr. Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the all-inclusive comfort of the Lydford place of refuge.
Our Government has been quick to sympathise with and take care of this neighbour who has fallen out with his family. But, as we know only too well, it takes cash to care and since charity begins at home we have to be mindful of the serious difficulties being experienced by our own people who have no means by which to escape.
When the thought of offering asylum to Aristide occurred to the Central African Republic, that Government let it be known that nothing of the sort could be afforded without financial help from the international community, especially as they badly needed money to look after their own pressing problems. The Jamaican Government appears not to be shackled by such consideration, but then again it may be that there's no need to worry. This guest of the Government is a generous man who knows how to take care of those who take care of him .
The former Roman Catholic priest was once vowed to a life of poverty and service to the dwellers of slums in Haiti. In that role he was convincing, effective and revered. However, since becoming a politician things have changed considerably and pledges about penury have given way to political power, prized possessions and lavish living.
As President of Haiti, in and out of exile, Aristide has had millions and millions of dollars passing through his hands and while his critics are convinced that a sizeable share of this has stuck to his fingers, it is well-known and documented that he has been particularly generous in paying out substantial sums to people committed to serving his personal and political interests.
WHISKED OFF TO JA
Take the group that has surrounded him since the Haitian rebels began pressuring him to leave office people he could call by cell phone from Africa to America. Those friends were able at a moment's notice to rush to his side by chartered jet and whisk him off to Jamaica.
On that trip from the Central African Republic, Aristide's fellow travellers included Ira J. Kurzban, a Miami lawyer whose firm, according to the United States Justice Department records, received US$3 million from the Aristide Government for legal work.
He is quoted as saying that much of the expenditure was for efforts to recover assets hidden overseas by the Duvalier family that once ruled Haiti. Also on that hurried flight to Jamaica was Mr. Randall Robinson, founder of TransAfrica Forum, long-time supporter of Mr. Aristide and a frequent visitor to the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince. The firm headed by his wife, Hazel Ross-Robinson, was paid US$367,967, part of which was for "publicising developments pertaining to the foreign principal's attempts to achieve and maintain political and economic stability."
Another passenger on the Africa-Jamaica flight was Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California, who has never missed an opportunity to represent Mr. Aristide in a positive light. She once had herself arrested while demonstrating in front of the White House, demanding that the U.S. help Aristide's return to power. Like so many other friends of the Lavalas family, Mrs. Waters has been well-entertained at the palace.
She was one of the top guests attending the celebration of Haitis 200th anniversary of independence and described it as a phenomenal, unprecedented and unsurpassed accomplishment by black people She has also served on the Board of Advisors of the Foundation for Democracy, set up by Aristide himself. On the plane and on the payroll were some bodyguards drawn from the squad hired by Aristide to take care of his security in Haiti.
WEAPONS PACKAGE
The Miami Herald reported that officials in Haiti and in Washington estimated that the California-based security firm, Steele Foundation, was paid between US$6 million and US$9 million annually for providing Aristide with some 60 bodyguards at the peak of its operation. There was also a million- dollar weapons package to assist the guards. Reports filed with the Justice Department indicate that since former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned to power in 2000, nearly US$5-million was spent by Haiti on lobbyists and lawyers in America. Observers are of the opinion that these expenditures by the western hemisphere's poorest nation, were exorbitant; and they point out that in contrast, the neighbouring Dominican Republic with a much more flourishing economy, spent substantially less for similar services.
The Congressional Black Caucus, another firm friend of Aristide, has also seen some benefits falling into the lap of its former leader, Ron Dellums. A filed report shows that his lobbying firm received US$571,326 in 2001 and 2002, for work that included discussing "legislation involving Haitian refugees with a member of Congress and congressional staff members."
OFFICIAL ADVISOR
Like Waters and Robinson, Dellums was an official advisor to the tax-exempt Foundation for Democracy, which Aristide set up to raise and administer funds for projects in Haiti.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Aristide, during his first exile, was paying a Democratic Party activist US$55,000 a month to help get U.S. backing for his return to Haiti. His ability to afford this spending was aided by the fact that although living in the United States he was regarded by the Clinton administration as the legitimate President of Haiti; and as such he had access to about US$50 million of Haitian Government assets that had once been frozen. Mary O'Grady, the Journal's editor of the Americas column, revealed that in the first year of his exile Aristide withdrew US$900,000 a month from that source and, beginning October 1992, US$1.8 million monthly. The report further stated that he also collected millions of dollars in telephone and other royalties due to the Government of Haiti.
FREE ACCESS FUNDS
The flow of money did not stop after the Americans reinstated Aristide with the help of U.S. marines. Not only did he have free access to the funds of his Foundation for Democracy, he also had control of the Haitian state-owned telephone monopoly Teleco. And he was instrumental in granting a contract for the long-distance call system, which is heavily used by Haitians calling home from overseas.
The firm getting that contract was Fusion Telecommunications International, headed then by U.S. Democratic Party activist Marvin Rosen. The governing board also included former Democratic Representative Joseph Kennedy II, who, like Rosen, was a member of the board of advisors for the Foundation for Democracy.
In Haiti the word is that no major economic deal could go through without the involvement of ex-President Aristide or some member or members of his Lavalas political party. So, whenever Jean-Bertrand en-dorsed a project people readily believed that its success was assured. That was the case of the money cooperatives, which he called the people's capitalism. Despite warnings from economists and bankers, he encouraged their formation and thousands of Haitians taking their cue from the President, invested their life savings and other assets with a view to getting the promised ten per cent interest. However, the scheme collapsed, hundreds of millions of dollars were lost and thousands of middle-class Haitians went broke.
AN ABSURDITY
President Aristide promised to bail out the losers, but a New York Times article quoted a diplomat who watched the development: "It is an absurdity. This is a government that doesn't have any money... there are schools, hospitals and 20,000 other priorities that would be more important than this."
But if Haitian citizens were losing money, the President seemed to be prospering. The publication Haiti Observateur, dated August 20, 2002, reported on the purchase of multimillion- dollar villas in Haiti and abroad and also the bank accounts reputed to total US$800 million. These reports of wealth, when they reached the ears of Aristide's spokesmen, instead of being denied, were explained as the income from books Jean-Bertrand had written.
Whatever one might think of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, it cannot be said that his style of living betrays any paucity of funds. Nor can it be said that Haiti in his time or to this day, reflects any sign of the near US$3 billion dollars poured into the country since he was reinstated by the Americans. Among western hemisphere countries receiving aid from the United States, Haiti has got the biggest share; and there is very little in Haiti to show for it. The national budget for the eight million people averages a mere US$350 million per annum.
Last month Roger Noriega, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere told a congressional hearing that between 1995 and 2003 the U.S. alone gave Haiti US$850 million in aid. Other countries and agencies demonstrating generosity include the Inter-American Development Bank, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the European Community. Also, the national aid programmes of France, Canada, Holland, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Venezuela and Taiwan.
DOLLAR DIPLOMACY
During his first exile Aristide had asked the United Nations General Assembly to admit Taiwan as a member. The Taiwanese were extremely gratified by this move and has since showered the Haitians with what has become known as dollar diplomacy. They have paid for police cars, garbage trucks, roads, low-cost housing, experimental rice farms and a sports complex. In addition they gave Aristide funds for his Foundation and for the orphanage he had set up while he was a practising priest.
So we come back to the original question: Does Aristide have the resources to continue his pattern of big spending? And will Jamaica get any help to defray the all-inclusive expenses we are incurring and which we can in truth ill-afford?
Ken Jones is General Secretary of the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs.
