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At the same time, MINUSTAH and US forces provide security, not aid, leaving Haitians on their own, at the mercy of what relief agencies can provide and doctors from Cuba, Venezuela and other concerned nations, not America, not the EU, not Canada, not the world's wealthiest states able to mount a sustained, large-scale effort but won't.
Instead, reports say flyers are being circulated throughout Port-au-Prince, telling people to evacuate to safer places. It's reminiscent of New Orleans post-Katrina, a mass ethnic cleansing exodus to level the city's most valued parts, prepare it for upscale development, and prevent poor Haitians from returning.
On January 22, AP reported that:
"Haitian officials are planning a massive relocation of 400,000 people from makeshift camps to the outskirts of the capital....to help residents survive the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake."
In fact, Pentagon forces run everything, providing aid not their concern. They're relocating people, dumping and forgetting about them, out of sight and mind.
The New York Times ignores it, referring only to aid groups helping the homeless by "an epic relocation (of) up to one million people." Not a word about capitalizing on disaster for profit.
Before the quake, Haiti had over 10,000 NGOs profiteering on the nation's misery, preparing now for a bonanza at the expense of the poor, displaced and immiserated.
Blocking a Haitian Exodus
The Pentagon has Haiti under siege. Five US Coast Guard vessels and Navy warships patrol offshore to interdict those fleeing and forcibly return them back home.
On January 19, cnn.com reported that:
"A US Air Force plane serving as an airborne radio station is broadcasting messages to Haitians (warning) them not to attempt ocean voyages to the United States, saying they will be intercepted and turned back home if they do."
The message comes from Raymond Joseph, Haiti's US ambassador, saying in Creole:
"Listen, don't rush on boats to leave the country. If you do that, we'll all have even worse problems....If you think you will reach the US and all the doors will be wide open to you, that's not at all the case. And they will intercept you right on the water and send you back home where you came from."
If large numbers flee, they'll be incarcerated at Guatanamo's Krome Service Processing Center under conditions others earlier faced. After the 1991 coup deposed President Aristide, thousands fled to America. Most were sent home, but around 300 were held at Guantanamo because tests showed they were HIV positive. In subsequent years, thousands more were interned there.
Conditions were deplorable. Treated like prisoners, they were held behind razor wire in leaky barracks with bad sanitation, poor food, and little medical care even for the sick and pregnant women. After one protest and a hunger strike, crackdowns were severe, and many were imprisoned.
In October 2002, 212 Haitians reached South Florida seeking asylum and safety. Instead, they were rounded up, handcuffed, held in detention, and grossly mistreated. Families were separated from children, husbands from wives, and siblings from each other, but it wasn't an isolated incident under a secret Bush administration policy authorizing what now is the Department of Homeland Security to detain South Florida arrivals, regardless of their asylum eligibility.
