Guyanese protest Bill Clinton’s visit for role played in destabilizing Haiti

Mar 27, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – Civil society activists gathered outside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara (ECD) on Tuesday to publicly register their disapproval of Former US President Bill Clinton’s visit to Guyana.

Clinton is on his first official visit to the country. However, the visit is much to the disapproval of sections of civil society including members of Red Thread and the Haiti Support Group (Guyana).

The protestors gathered outside the ACCC to note their concerns over Clinton’s visit as well as presence of the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic, Ernesto Torres-Pereyra.

In a statement issued by the Haiti Support Group (Guyana) the activists said, “We picket to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Haiti and their right to self determination, free movement, and national sovereignty.”

The statement continued: “We picket to denounce the racist and discriminatory policies of the Dominican Republic against Haitians, as well as the Government of Guyana’s violation of the Treaty of Chaguaramas with regard to Haitians’ right of free movement throughout the Caribbean….Today [yesterday]’s picket is also against former US President Bill Clinton for his role in contributing to the corruption and destabilization of Haiti.”

The group noted that as President of the United States, Mr. Clinton forced Haiti to drop tariffs on imported American rice, providing farmers from his home state of Arkansas with a lucrative market for their crop but destroying the local Haitian rice farming sector.

The support group explained that Haiti is now one of the main importers of American rice- which has been found to contain unhealthy levels of arsenic and cadmium, heavy metals that can increase risks of cancer and heart disease, according to a recent study by the University of Michigan.

“… It shows a clear prioritizing of business and friends and family politics over respecting a nation’s sovereignty and the lives of its citizens; this is not something we want or need more of here in Guyana,” Charlene Wilkinson of  Haiti Support Group told Kaieteur News while on the picket line.

Similarly, Guyanese activist Danuta Radzik who was also on the picket line said that the Clintons have had a very bad record in relation to Haiti.

“This has to do with the level of corruption… The Clinton Foundation has also been accused of widespread corruption and disempowerment of the Haitian people for their role in projects such as the Caracol Industrial Park which displaced over three hundred Haitian families and prioritized profit and cheap labor for multinational companies instead of providing proper employment and a living wage for Haitian workers,” Radzik explained.

Meanwhile, the group explained in the statement that beyond his tenure in the White House, Clinton continued to demonstrate his disrespect and disregard for Haitian sovereignty and lives and his prioritization of profit over people in his role as chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), set up after the devastating 2010 earthquake to provide aid and assistance to the Haitian people.

The group explained that “Less than 1% of the billions of dollars collected by the IHRC went to Haitian businesses and Haitian non-governmental organizations; most of the money went to international aid agencies, international NGOs and for-profit businesses. Less than 10% of the funds went to the Haitian government.

“We will continue to express solidarity with the people of Haiti as their struggle for self-determination and recognition of their rights is one that resonates with us as Indigenous and descendants of formerly enslaved and indentured persons. We stand against business and economic policies which prioritize profit over people, rights, and justice, especially when championed by persons and institutions that espouse racist ideology and disregard for human rights.”

Further, the support group said that it desires a united Caribbean where “our Haitian cousins can enjoy free movement throughout the region, without fear of discrimination, persecution, or forced deportation, where their rights are equally upheld, their lives and livelihoods safeguarded, and their national sovereignty respected by foreign forces.”

Added to this, the local rights body pointed out too that the Dominican Republic (DR) convener of the United Caribbean Forum and neighbour of Haiti- has, for decades, systematically discriminated against Haitians.

“The DR has enacted and maintained a policy of denying the right to nationality to persons of Haitian descent, in an attempt to intimidate and expel Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent,” the body said condemning the actions of the DR.

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• Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), Bill Clinton, destabilizing, Guyanese, Haiti

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