CSMS Magazine Staff writers
Three years after an earthquake left half a million Haitians dead and about 1.5 million internally displaced, the people of this Caribbean embattled country can hardly find one good thing to point out to as part of progress being made to return their country to pre-earthquake condition. Eyewitnesses say at the surface it looks like the Haitian population seems resigned to a bleak future as Haitian authorities take a blind eye while thousands are left with no place to live and millions go hungry every day.
According to Associated Press, the Sweet Micky government plans an “un-ceremonial” ceremony. “Martelly will preside over a subdued memorial on the grounds of the former National Palace, which was destroyed in the disaster and later demolished. Senior government officials and diplomats are expected to attend.”
Sweet Micky who ran for president under the empty promise of “saving” the nation from the brink of collapse has said he hopes Haitians take some time on this sad day to think about how they can improve their lives.
“The main thing for me is to use this day to plunge Haitians into deep reflection,” Martelly said Friday. And he went on to say that “I need tomorrow to bring my country, my people enough reflection where they decide to do things in other ways.”
It was not so certain as to whom Micky was addressing. Could it be his allies of convenience in the recalcitrant upper class now accused of kidnapping and other forms of criminal acts? Could it be his close associates—Duvalierists and other dubious figures which form the core of his government? One thing is certain: it CANNOT be the disenfranchised and thoroughly exploited masses, for reflection is what they do 24/7.
Port-au-Prince’s Radio Metropole claims Martelly plans on giving a speech in the morning and then be escorted off to visiting a shallow mass grave in Ti Tanyen just north of the Haitian capital to lay a garland. U.N. special envoy and true boss of Haiti, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, is also expected to be there.
It has been reported that only half of the $5.3 billion pledged by donors has been released, according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti. But the Sweet Micky government has very little to show for more than 2 billion dollars being pumped into the reconstruction effort, although one must say that a bulk of that money has gone to fuel financial resources of hundreds of NGOs operating independently in the country.
The question remains: When will deliverance occur?
