US Role in Haiti Continues to be Subject of Debate

The photos of U.S. military choppers landing in the front yard of the palace that once housed Haitian President René Préval do hint at military occupation. And as the New York Times writes this morning, given Haiti’s history of foreign intervention, the mass “influx of foreigners” is a particularly sensitive issue. (Comments from analysts like the Heritage Foundation’s Jim Roberts, who says the U.S. should use its efforts in Haiti to "counter the ongoing efforts of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to destabilize the island of Hispaniola," probably do not help). But, according to Marc Lacey’s reporting today, “with the government of President René Préval largely out of public view and the needs so huge, many Haitians are shunting aside their concerns about sovereignty and welcoming anybody willing to help — in camouflage or not.” Apparently Préval (who is featured by the Miami Herald today and says he survived the quake because he skipped his afternoon nap), recently gathered a group of Haitian business and religious leaders together at the police outpost he currently calls his office to ask whether they supported the presence of U.S. Marines in the country. Their answer, Lacey reports: “Yes — as long as it’s temporary.”

Former PM Michele Pierre-Louis agrees. “We have a power vacuum,” Pierre-Louis tells the Times. “The big question is, who’s in charge? We don’t feel as though there is someone organizing all this.” And from the U.S. military, more denials that what we are seeing in Haiti is an occupation. Col. Gregory Kane of the U.S. Army told reporters Tuesday that while the U.S. controls the Haitian airport, it is taking its orders from the Haitian government—or what remains of it. There have been some reports and news stories out there that the U.S. is invading Haiti,” Colonel Kane said. “We’re not invading Haiti. That’s ludicrous. This is humanitarian relief.”

The priorities of humanitarian relief efforts include providing medical care, the handling of corpses, shelter, water, food and sanitation, the UN said this week. However, it has also increasingly included security. The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently described the security situation in the country as “stable, with limited, localized violence and looting occurring.” But Mr. Préval has said he has asked the some 12,000 U.S. troops now in the country to help UN peacekeepers with security. (the U.N. Security Council this week unanimously agreed to temporarily add 2,000 U.N. troops and 1,500 police to the 9,000-member peacekeeping mission in Haiti.) The Washington Post adds that the U.S. Navy arrived at Port-au-Prince’s largely destroyed port yesterday. Reports estimate the port will be up and running again in one to two weeks.

Also word from Haitian officials, reported in the LA Times, that some 72,000 bodies have already been buried by the state. This figure does not include the thousands that have been buried in private ceremonies, making the number of 200,000 dead (now being used by PAHO) seem more and more possible.

More Haiti news and analysis this morning include an interview with Haiti scholar Bob Maguire at Time, on how Haiti might rebuild. Ditto at Foreign Policy. Time also has a recent piece on the uneven distribution of aid being provided to poor and wealthy areas of Port-au-Prince. And Nelson Valdés has a piece criticizing such disparities between recovery in poor and rich parts of the Haitian capital at Counterpunch.

At Foreign Policy’s new UN blog, Turtle Bay, Colum Lynch asks if Haiti has been Sec. General Ban Ki-Moon’s “Katrina Moment.” Bloomberg reports on a Haiti international donor’s meeting, scheduled for next week in Montreal. The meeting will include Canadian officials, U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, and Brazil’s foreign minister, Celso Amorim, among others.

In other news this morning:

· Yet another recent Time report analyzes the still-growing feud between Argentine President Cristina Kirchner and her VP-turned-opponent, Julio Cobos. Last week Ms. Kirchner accused Cobos of plotting to destabilize Argentina, saying he has presidential ambitions of his own in 2011 that have made him the “de facto leader of the opposition.” The piece goes on to report that many of the president’s supporters are concerned Cobos “might make use of the president's absence during an upcoming trip to China to call a special session of Congress and reject a recent executive decree ordering the seizure of Central bank reserves to pay off part of Argentina's voluminous foreign debt.” Yesterday, Ms. Kirchner cancelled that much-anticipated China visit. Her reason: the trip would have been “too long especially when the country’s Vice President does not fulfill the role that has been assigned to him.”

· Yesterday, I mentioned the sharp, one-year decline in President Rafael Correa’s popularity in Ecuador. Other reports indicate Correa is not alone. The aforementioned Cristina Kirchner appears to be the least popular leader in the region, according to recent approval rating numbers, followed by Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua. Costa Rica’s Oscar Arias also has seen his domestic approval ratings plummet to their lowest point in some four years as well, ahead of Feb. 7 presidential elections (Arias is not in the running). Who are the region’s most popular leaders? Ricardo Martinelli has an astounding 91% approval rating in Panama, followed by Mauricio Funes, with 88% in El Salvador. Lula da Silva sits at 83% in Brazil and outgoing president Michelle Bachelet of Chile has 81% approval.

· From Honduras, the U.S. is still yanking visas from coup plotters as Pepe Lobo prepares to assume office on Jan. 27. News from El Tiempo yesterday that at least three more state officials have had their U.S. visas revoked, including the country’s Youth Minister, the Minister of Culture, Art, and Sports, and the Secretary of Public Works, Transportation, and Housing. A somewhat bizarre group of coup plotters, if I do say so myself.

· And in Venezuela, the AP reports that President Hugo Chavez has announced a gradual minimum wage raise of 25% (10% in March and 15% more next September). The move comes after a currency devaluation just under two weeks ago.