Arriving to the warrior and fighter Haiti
On Tuesday, March 30th, at around 3 o’clock pm, we arrived at the airport of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.
We have just taken the first steps in the Haitian territory and the havoc caused by the earthquake of January 12th hit us right between the eyes. Huge cracks are evident in the airport Toussaint L’Ouverture, as well as the sight of the American military occupation, with helicopters parked near the landing field and soldiers in an improvised hall.
Our first commitment was a meeting with the comrades of Batay Ouvriye (Proletarian Battle), a people and worker organization that, once again, receives a delegation of Conlutas – this time, composed of 6 people.
The reception was hearty. Batay Ouvriye’s headquarter had Conlutas’ flags and posters against the military occupation that violates Haitians’ freedom and intensifies the exploitation to which they are submitted.
Didier Dominique, one of the leaders of Batay Ouvriye, who have been to Brazil several times, spoke about the difficult process of articulating again the workers’ organization.
“Everything became more complicated, to communicate with our comrades and to transport, whose prices have increased four times after the disaster”, summarized Didier, about the earthquake which destroyed Port-au-Prince and killed more than 200 thousand people.
However, the rank-and-file is already being reorganized.
Class solidarity
The members of Batay Ouvriye thanked Conlutas solidarity to Haitian workers. In addition to the visit of the delegation and motions of solidarity by worker meetings in various parts of Brazil, Conlutas joined the money gathered by Brazilian unions and organizations and forwarded it to Batay.
According to Didier, this was an extraordinary aid, which enabled his organization to give the first steps to its restructuring, in the defense of all workers in Haiti.
José Maria de Almeida, from the Federation of Metalworkers of Minas Gerais, thanked the reception of the Haitian comrades. The speeches were translated from Spanish to the creole, the native language.
Natural tragedy over the social tragedy
After the meeting, we went to the location where we are hosted. In the path, the scenes we have seen on television, hundreds of buildings in ruins and the people trying to survive in tents, caused a much stronger impact.
In this moment, when the television doesn’t speak anymore of Haiti, we faced an appalling fact: no motion from the government or even the UN, which are more than absent, occurs in order to reconstruct Port-au-Prince. The debris are still everywhere! People keep on “living” in the few square meters environment of small tents.
Haitian workers are dependent on, more than ever, their own forces, to rebuild what was destroyed by natural disaster potentiated by social disaster. ______________________________________________________________________
Delegation meets the Haitians in camps
On Wednesday, 31st, a meeting with the coordination of Batay Ouvriye was made to determine the day schedule. In the morning, Zé Maria was interviewed on local radio and explained the objectives of the solidarity visit of the Conlutas representatives.
Meanwhile, the rest of the delegation visited the camps where, after the earthquake, the homeless Haitians live.
The sight is extremely shocking: hundreds and hundreds of tents, in which a huddle of families live.
I interviewed with several people to, subsequently, make a video about the situation in Haiti. One of them reported us the condition of complete abandonment of the population.
“The promise that we’d stay here only a few days has gone away. We’re here for three months and there’s no expectation to go”, he said, with a look of revolt. “Humanitarian aid is very poor. One day they bring food, but, on the other, there is nothing for us”.
The sanitation is also deplorable and improvised chemical toilets don’t give any comfort to those who have been camped.
Almost lunch time, a flagrant. A demonstration against the President of Haiti, René Préval, gathered around one hundred people. Closely, Minustah troops (UN occupying force led by Brazil) with their weapons and vehicles, where the shield of the United Nations could be seen. The delegation had no doubt about the intimidating character of the action.
Meetings in the camps
In the afternoon, the delegation had meetings in four camps with their leaders. The representatives of Conlutas debated the role represented by the military occupation and offered their solidarity.
First of all, in the camp next to Cite Soleil, considered the poorest region of Port-au-Prince, approximately a hundred people crowded to receive the delegation in a very intense meeting. It is one of the more organized camps, because it is headed by Batay Ouvriye.
At the end of this post, a note: we have great difficulty of access to the Internet. For this reason, the blog is not being fed daily. As far as possible, we’re reporting the views of the representatives of Conlutas in Haitian soil, who are:
Cecília de Paula (Andes) – UFBA (Federal University of Bahia)
Cláudia Durans (Andes) – UFMA (Federal University of Maranhão)
Elvio Mariano (Andes) – Unicentro University
José Maria de Almeida (Metalworkers Federation /MG)
Vivaldo Moreira Araújo (Metalworkers Union of São José dos Campos/SP)
And I, Rodrigo Corrêa (reporter of the Metalworkers Union of São José dos Campos)
____________________________________________________
Conlutas pass through havoc scenario in Port-au-Prince
On the third day of the visit of the Conlutas’ delegation to Haiti, the reality of a Port-au-Prince destroyed by the earthquake and its people abandoned due to the social tragedy, the result of centuries of exploitation, imperialist meddling and exploitation.
This Thursday April 1st, members of the delegation walked the streets. They could testify to the ruined houses, the homeless people and suffering of the population.
Because the written report cannot, perhaps, demonstrate the actual situation we have met, we publish below a video with the images we have shot.
Meeting with the opposition
In the evening, part of the delegation met, along with Batay Ouvriye, several sectors which oppose to the Government of President René Préval, in the most productive meeting we’ve had here in this period. The comrades complained that the workers were harassed for seeking their rights, in the country where the lowest wages of the Americas are paid.
To organize, resist and mobilize is needed. Conlutas wants to give its contribution, disseminating Haitian actions throughout the rank-and-file of their unions and favoring brotherly class solidarity.
______________________________________________________________
Delegation visits the earthquake epicenter site and talks to the press
The Conlutas’ delegation to Haiti had, once again, several activities in the penultimate day of its solidarity visit.
By the morning, Batay Ouvriye convened a press conference where Conlutas could talk about the issue of the earthquake, class solidarity and the demand of the withdrawal of occupying troops from the Caribbean country.
Only a radio and a local TV showed up, which is, anyway, something very positive, especially because the trend to avoid tough issues to the dominant class by the media and the Good Friday holiday.
At night, about 8 pm, we had a pleasant surprise. Channel 11 broadcasted nearly all the speech of the representative of Conlutas, José Maria de Almeida, in its TV news.
“In Brazil, Lula’s government has been talking about helping Haiti since three months ago. This is not true. All the time the troops are here, the military have not built only one home, a school or something important for the population”, said José Maria, translated into creole to Haitians by Didier Dominique.
“We want the end of military occupation and that Brazil uses the money spent with the troops to provide real effective humanitarian aid, with doctors, nurses, constructors, and so forth”.
The epicenter of the earthquake
After lunch, we went up to Leogane (30 km west of Port-au-Prince), region of the epicenter of the earthquake on 12 January.
Again, to all sides we looked, it could be observed what I’ve related in a previous post, as a war scenario.
With their homes’ destruction, people have to live in tents. It’s inhumane.
“What called my attention on this visit to Haiti is the total absence of the State. In general, population depends solely on its own forces”, said the Andes representative and member of the delegation, Elvio Mariano.
____________________________________________________
The last appointment, meeting with students
I am writing this post in the airplane that brings us to Panama, where we’ll take another flight, this time to Brazil.
The last day of the visit of the delegation was quite hurried. We went to a meeting with teachers and students of the College of Social Sciences of Haiti.
Approximately 50 people attended the meeting, in which the delegation demonstrated its solidarity to Haitian people and the belief that the country does not need foreign military troops on its territory.
The President of the Metalworkers Union of São José dos Campos, Vivaldo Moreira Araújo, talked about the solidarity of Brazilian workers to the Haitian people.
“We had meetings in various factories of our region, such as General Motors, in which the workers agreed to donate part of their wages to workers’ organizations, such as Batay Ouvriye. It turns out that the companies managers are denying do discount it on the payroll, a situation that we have already denounced, including to the ILO”, reported Vivaldo.
This is a clear attack on the sovereign decision of workers and on the campaign of solidarity to the Haitian workers”.
Exchanges with students and teachers
In the meeting, it was also articulated the construction of a channel for exchanging information between teachers and students of Haiti and Brazil.
“In the same way that in Haiti, Brazilian teachers are targets for the neo-liberal policy, performed in our country by Lula. We are willing to exchange experiences and help, wherever possible, the Haitians teachers”, said Cláudia Durans, the Andes leader.
Haitian Students have a very significant political role. They supported the struggle of the workers for a minimum daily wage of 200 gourdes in 2009. There were many struggles and Professor Jean Anil Louis-Juste, in the front line of mobilizations, was murdered hours before the earthquake of January 12th.
Back to Brazil
When boarding back to Brazil, we faced a little bit of the chaos in which the Port-au-Prince airport is immersed, with a reception service of passengers improvised in containers.
In any case, everything was all right, and the delegation is returning to Brazil on this Sunday at around 5 o’clock in the morning. In the luggage, the remembrance of the activities developed and of the faces of so many Haitians, who, although punished by a number of misfortunes, never give up to smile and to fight.
See you soon, Haiti!
Source: www.conlutas.org.br
