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The UN's Cluster System also failed, and the NGO community largely spurned its responsibility, OB citing:
"countless examples of large NGOs either openly refusing to share information used to detect, verify, and execute emergency responses for villages experiencing 'first contact' mortality, or deliberately remaining silent as unfunded 'grassroots' organizations scramble to send volunteers into remote areas to help....The rule of thumb is the more funding and the larger the organization, the less likely (it is) to share information about fatalities and emergency need for response." Or deliver vitally needed services, their interests largely bottom-line driven, making them non-profit in name only.
In addition, OB criticized Haiti's government for "dereliction of duty," a November 17 AFP report providing a recent example, headlined, "Haiti's Preval urges calm as cholera toll soars."
His government failed to help earthquake and cholera victims. Preval stayed out of sight, largely invisible while Haitians suffer. Instead, on November 17, his recorded message said:
"Disorder and instability have never brought solutions to a country going through hard times," never mind spurning his responsibility to help. Noting protest outbreaks in Cap Haitien, Port-au-Prince, and elsewhere around the country, he said, "Gunshots (fired by UN paramilitaries killing two or more Haitians), throwing bottles, and barricades of burning tires will not help us eradicate cholera bacteria. On the contrary, it will prevent the sick from receiving care and to deliver medicine where it is needed."
A shocking display of indifference and hypocrisy, reason enough why most Haitians despise him, his party, and government.
A Final Comment
Despite calls to postpone elections and address urgent cholera and earthquake priorities, Sunday's sham process will proceed. US ambassador Kenneth Merten affirmed it at a November 23 videoconference, saying:
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