International donors met in Montreal, Canada, Monday, agreeing to support a 10-year rebuilding effort in Haiti. According to the New York Times’ Marc Lacey and Ginger Thompson, the meeting included representatives of 13 countries, the European Union, the OAS, the UN, CARICOM, and Haitian officials, who estimate the reconstruction process will require some $3 billion in aid. In fact, Haitian PM Jean-Max Bellevire addressed the group yesterday in an attempt to show that the Haitian government—although shaken by the quake—still had the capacity to direct a major reconstruction push in the coming years. “The Haitian government is working in precarious conditions,” Bellevire told donors, “but it can provide the leadership that people expect.” In her comments, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton seconded Mr. Bellevire’s call for a partnership with the Haitian government. “It's important that we see ourselves as partners of Haiti, not patrons; that we work intensely together to produce results that can be seen and felt by the Haitians themselves.” Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, added that the reconstruction efforts would only be successful if more countries from around the world pledged to take part in the recovery efforts as well. He specifically cited the need for Arab and Asian countries to get involved in providing reconstruction aid.
In the end, those international representatives that traveled to Canada agreed that they would carry out a thorough assessment of the damage and future needs of the country before deciding on an exact pledge amount. That assessment is expected to begin as early as next week, says the Times. A second-round of donor meetings is now being planned for March at the UN headquarters in New York.
The Financial Times adds to reporting, saying those gathered Tuesday were also urged by some, including Oxfam, to cancel Haiti’s remaining debt. “The Paris Club of creditor countries, which includes the US, Canada, Britain and France, has already said it would speed up cancellation agreed on last July of a $215m debt, part of about $1bn owed by Haiti,” writes the paper. While the BBC notes that the World Bank has agreed to waive Haiti’s debt payments for the next five years. But Haiti remains indebted to the Inter-American Development Bank ($440 million), as well as to Taiwan and Venezuela. While Venezuela struggles with domestic economic troubles, there are reports that President Hugo Chavez has agreed to “cancel” Haiti’s debt to Petrocaribe by creating a special plan that will provide Haiti with petroleum (Haiti owes Venezuela some $295 million).
Haiti opinions today include John Kerry in the Miami Herald and a damning assessment of the United States’ response to the quake in the Wall Street Journal, written by three US doctors who arrived in Haiti shortly after the quake.
In other news:
· From Venezuela. The LA Times reports that demonstrators, many of them students, took to the streets of Caracas and other cities around the country Monday to protest the effective shuttering of RCTV by the Venezuelan telecommunications agency (Conatel). According to reports, security forces fired tear gas and plastic bullets at the protesters who had planned to march toward Conatel’s offices. At least four demonstrators were injured in Caracas while Reuters reports on clashes that broke out between pro and anti-Chavez student groups in other cities, which took the life of at least one pro-Chavez demonstrator. Bernardo Alvarez, Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, said the removal of RCTV from cable television programming was not an attack on freedom of expression but rather “an administrative sanction under the law.” The Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said the group's human rights commission had written a letter of protest and offered to mediate a solution. The French government urged Chavez to observe informational pluralism. State Dept. spokesman PJ Crowley said the US was “concerned” with Sunday’s decision against RCTV but did not say whether or not the US would bring the issue to a “higher level.” And an LA Times editorial this morning calls the move against RCTV “part of a pattern of regulatory attacks on the media.”
[Not to be overshadowed by Venezuela, in Peru, Boz notes a new Reporters without Borders statement protests the cancellation of another opposition television license by Peru’s government.]
Denying any connection to RCTV being pulled from cable, Venezuelan VP and Defense Minister, Ramon Carrizalez, also resigned Monday, citing personal reasons. His wife, the country’s environment minister, has stepped down as well, reports indicate.
And, finally, a very good response by Adam Isacson to yesterday’s Post opinion by Jackson Diehl—one of countless attempts by that paper to connect Hugo Chavez to every event around the region.
· In Argentina, the standoff between the government of Cristina Kirchner and Central Banker Martin Redrado continues today. Redrado was indeed barred from entering his office, late Sunday. And today a congressional commission is set to begin an investigation of Mr. Redrado’s conduct as Central Bank president. Its findings, however, have only the force of a nonbinding recommendation, writes the Wall Street Journal. Thus, most give Redrado little chance of returning to the job. Already he has been replaced by Miguel Angel Pesce, formerly his deputy, but Redrado now says he may come out against the government with an incriminating list of government loyalists who he says “bought dollars.” The saga continues…
· The inauguration of Pepe Lobo in Honduras is set for tomorrow, Jan. 27. There is news this morning that El Salvador will re-establish ties with its neighbor, following Lobo’s swearing in tomorrow. Brazil made it clear again yesterday that it will not be sending a representative to tomorrow’s ceremony nor will it, “for now,” be recognizing the Lobo government. Foreign minister Celso Amorim told the daily Estado de Sao Paulo recently that the decision on recognition will be determined largely by how Mel Zelaya is treated in the coming days. Also on Honduras, Amnesty International has put out a new statement demanding that Lobo order a full investigation of all human rights abuses committed by Honduran security forces following the June 28 coup. AI adds that all violators must be prosecuted and reparations be provided to the victims. Via Quotha, also news that the US State Dept. has called on Honduran officials to investigate the murder of gay activist and member of the Resistance, Walter Trochez.
· From the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, a note on the “absolutely positive” and even “historic” efforts against money-laundering under Felipe Calderon’s government in Mexico. This according to the National Office of the Attorney General in Mexico. Also from the Mexico Institute, a recap of US Ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual’s recent talk at the Council on the Americas. Security, competitiveness, and energy and the environment were the major themes touched upon by the ambassador. And a New York Times piece from yesterday looks at the effect of the drug wars on the Tohono O’odham reservation along the US-Mexico border.
· ECLA, in a new report, says extreme poverty in Mexico and Central America rose by 800,000 people in 2009. Across the region as a whole the number living in poverty rose from 180 million in 2008 to 189 million in 2009.
· And finally, a series of reports (here, here, here) on the World Social Forum which began yesterday in Porto Alegre, Brazil. This year marks the 10th year of the conference of activists, originally created as a “left” counter to the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos. Brazil’s Lula da Silva plans to address the forum Thursday, and most expect him to focus on “how Brazil has managed to lift millions from poverty as the country embraces an unprecedented boom.” An interesting IPS report on the WSF, looks at the type of model Brazil—the birthplace of the Forum—is following amidst its global rise.
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