 Hi, so welcome everyone. This is our weekly webinar of what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean every Wednesday at noon and today I'm joined by Camille Talmers who is a Haitian economist He has a very interesting history and I admire him very much. He a lot of things that went through his life made him choose the path of Justice and struggle and even if a man defying people close to him so I as I say I admire him very much and so He is currently a professor in the state of University of Haiti and he is the executive director of PAPDA, which is a coalition of Haitian civil society and he's also a spokesperson for the left political party So welcome Camille. Bienvenido Thank you so much for the invitation and greetings to everyone that's participating in this conversation The COVID-19 crisis began in Haiti on March 19th when the government announced the first two identified cases I have to note that COVID-19 reached Haiti in the middle of a serious crisis the country had been going through for over three years a Very strong economic crisis with the collapse of the national currency with respect to the dollar It lost 75% of its value in two years and also high inflation Which has made it so that the purchasing power of workers has been plummeting and the government has refused to increase the minimum Minimum wage on three occasions So right now we're in a situation in which the people are falling into unheard of levels of poverty With 4.1 million people facing food insecurity and that is a number that is increasing So 40% of the population cannot eat and this is a very very very serious situation in crisis and the economic crisis is also accompanied by a Political crisis that is serious because we are governed by a party that is in the extreme right wing The PHTK that is totally controlled by the United States and has as its political project a Return to an authoritarian government close to the type of government we had with Duvalier So they are nostalgic for this Duvalier is to period and they want to destroy the democratic accomplishments that we have achieved since 1986 and during the past two years We have seen admirable processes of popular mobilizations of mass mobilizations Millions of people on the streets demanding not just the exit of Jovenel Moïse from power the resignation of Jovenel Moïse But demanding the removal from power also of the political party of the extreme right wing That was imposed by the United States in a totally illegal manner The popular mobilization is going much further Not just demanding a change in government but also a change in system saying that it is important to enter into a process of transition In order to set the stage for structural change that will allow us to break with the current system of domination A break with a state that is completely controlled by imperialism A state that is totally at the service of the oligarchy and that destroys the nation destroys the economy and destroys institutions Yeah Camille and in terms of the coronavirus what's the sanitary situation over there how many cases of corona are they currently there And how's the nation's test capacity how has how has the government responded to the pandemic And what's the situation in the rural areas The government was very happy with the arrival of the pandemic and which we could also see in the declarations made by the president on March 19th Where his face was very happy because they started using the pandemic with various goals in mind It's an instrumentalization of the pandemic with political goals First they wanted to rebuild their legitimacy which is very low because nobody has trust in them They want to collect new financial resources from the international community And they also want to set the stage for the next electoral period using those resources that are meant to be used in the fight against the pandemic And using them for political propaganda and to support the candidacies of various PHTK leaders And they are also using those resources in a way that's really embezzlement Because a great part of the resources of the state are being used to make businesses with ties to the party and power richer So you can see very clearly that they have been using these funds in an insulting manner For example, imports worth 18 million dollars were made from the People's Republic of China And they were made without consulting the scientific committee that had been designated to oversee which materials we were going to need And to sense the appropriateness between those materials and the Haitian people They also began distributing food, distributing cash And in the distribution of food, according to several analyses, they were stealing part of the money aimed at these distributions For example, there's a process of overcharging when they pay $27 for food kits When the real value of that, the contents of those kits is no greater than $7 So there is a gross process of theft, of destruction, of pillage, of looting public funds, the funds of the nation And it's something we can note within the decisions being taken They designated three new structures A structure in charge of informing the people, which is called the Permanent Committee of Information A structure which is called the Scientific Committee And one which is called the Multisectorial Committee for Managing the Crisis And it's within these structures that there has been a transfer of responsibility to NGOs Or to the people in charge of NGOs and the directors and managers of NGOs that are very tied to imperialism And have very specific interests in this crisis to support transnational businesses So there are also many scandals in terms of the management of the crisis First they formed a scientific committee of 14 people And within this scientific committee lacks the presence of what we call in traditional Haitian culture The Leaf Doctors, who have an enormous patrimony of knowledge of wisdom of how to use plants And the majority of Haitians are alive thanks to this knowledge So how can they construct a scientific committee for a case in which western medicine Does not have many answers for this pandemic and not use, not value this traditional knowledge of popular culture And popular practices to face diseases Also in Haitian universities there are reach searchers who have dedicated 30 to 40 years of their lives To standardizing, to finding a way to improve that knowledge So there has been a negation of popular culture And that is one of the basic characteristics of this government Another scandal is that on March 19th they decreed that industrial businesses could no longer work And it was a general measure saying that we would have to be in confinement Which is absurd because in Port-au-Prince for example, 92% of the economy is informal And everyone has to go out to find their food So you can't tell people that they have to stay at home when their job is on the streets And they don't have a way to earn resources from their homes And it's the same for people in rural areas A rural Haitian has to leave home every day to take care of their animals To find water for their animals Sometimes walking 5 or 6 kilometers to find water To cultivate the land because we're in a period of planting And it's the most important period of the year for crops So they can't stay home, they have to work, otherwise they die of hunger There's a total disconnect between the measures taken by the government and actual reality And we have to denounce something that we consider a scandal And it's that in the days after the closing of these businesses A few days after that, the government under pressure from the U.S. Embassy and U.S. corporations Re-opened duty-free zones and allowed that 50% of the duty-free zones begin working again To produce materials for the U.S. market Because these zones produced surgical shirts and pants PPE for the U.S. market So they opened 50% of these duty-free zones without any type of precaution to protect the lives of workers That is to say that the lives of the Haitian workers had no value It was more important for the businesses to make profits and satisfy the demands of the U.S. market They could also be producing products for Haiti, like masks, no? Why are they exporting billions of cubic meters of fabric to the United States? Why don't they produce masks? And despite the fact that the government requested the production of 20 million masks from these businesses Until now they have not distributed these masks and they continue producing for the U.S. market Another scandal is the fact that the U.S. government continues deporting Haitians Undocumented Haitian migrants or criminals that leave jails in the United States And we know that the epicenter is the United States with the highest rate of infection and deaths And it is from that source of infections that they are deporting Which is something that is completely insane and absurd and criminal Because of course we know that the Haitian health system is very weak And does not have the capacity to even do tracking of people who have been in contact with those who come with infections For example, the government of Canada suspended its deportations during the period of the pandemic But the Haitian government is so completely submissive to the will of the United States That they have not even requested a moratorium for the arrival of the deported people And in Haiti last week there was a scandal because among the people being scheduled to be deported that week Was a criminal who was the head of a paramilitary group that rose up during the coup d'etat against Aristide in 91 To organize massacres against popular working class neighborhoods And the man took responsibility for these crimes So people were furious knowing that this criminal could come and he would not be prosecuted by Haitian justice Which is a slap in the face to the dignity of the Haitian people from imperialism and from the Haitian government We can also underline that in terms of information the people don't believe the information distributed by the government Because the government has a history of lying, of making false promises And people think that they're using the crisis for political gain So for example, in the distribution of food you can see the picture of the wife of the president And the logos of the foundation of the political party in power So there's a very clear instrumentalization of the pandemic And furthermore in some working class neighborhoods they use that distribution to strengthen the criminal gangs that are controlled by the government That are also being used against the mass mobilizations to terrorize the people and try to impede the process of mobilization that had begun So Camille, you were saying that in Port-au-Prince for example 92% of the population are in the informal economy So they have to go out if they want to survive, if they want to eat So in most of the countries the solution to retaining the virus has been quarantine What measures should the Haitian government be taken to protect its citizens taking into account that specific situation? No, well we have to take measures that are adapted to the situation For example, we could manage gathering points differently, so in markets In markets we could take measures to use masks, to use physical distancing To extend the working hours of the markets So that there are fewer people at the same time and we could have a calendar with the business people So in the point of sales for the lotteries where people gather and in cell phone charging places, that sort of thing It is very easy to identify those spaces and take adequate measures for protection Which has not been done because the government is not really worried about the lives of the people One of the things I wanted to highlight is that in the last weeks of March, lots of Haitians came who were fleeing the pandemic In the Dominican Republic who have more than 11,000 infected and more than 400 people dead Whereas in Haiti we have 239 infected and 18 people dead So there are lots of Haitians who are fleeing the pandemic, Haitian migrants who fled the pandemic and came back So there are lots of migrant Haitians in the Dominican Republic who fled the pandemic and returned to their country And the last three weeks of March, 94,000 Haitian citizens came back fleeing the pandemic And of course at the border the government did not take any specific measures to identify if there were infected citizens And to monitor the people who were in contact with the infected people So both governments, the Haitian government and the government of the Dominican Republic who share the island and have a border In which is very heavily trafficked coming and going They have not taken any shared or joint policy in order to manage the crisis So they haven't taken any joint policy to manage the crisis intelligently Guide by the basic interests of both peoples The number of tests that are available is very low Before the arrival of the two planes that came from China The government had 1200 tests for 11 million people In fact we discovered that a lot of these tests have been used for the ministers of the council of government And they have not been used for the people So at the level of the border there's a hospital that is very well equipped for testing And it has testing but globally there haven't been more than 2000 tests So of course we have reason to suspect that the infection rate is much higher than what is recognized by the government But what we can say is that there is no explosion of the epidemic Because if there had been such an explosion it would be visible in terms of people going to the hospitals for example There hasn't been an explosion of the pandemic but in the last days we've seen a rapid increase in the number of infected We can also say that the government in terms of communications did a very poor job Because they projected their projections that were organized by the University of Connecticut and Oxford They were projecting a huge number of dead in Haiti and they were comparing it to the earthquake So it's completely irresponsible to do this And the minister of public works made declarations that were very indignant Saying that he was ready to bury 150 people every day So you can imagine that a statement of this type how people would react So the government was more interested in deaths than in protecting the lives of the people And the minister of public works made a statement that caused a lot of indignation Saying that he was ready to bury 1500 people a day So you can imagine that a statement of this type it shows that the government is more interested in the number of dead than in life Than in protecting the lives of the people Thank you Camille for your brilliant intervention I just wanted to know what are your prospects for the recovery of Haiti Well we are very worried because infections are increasing rapidly now Despite the fact that they are moderate levels compared to other countries But there is the risk of an important number of dead people Because our health system is totally destroyed by neoliberal policies the past 20 years It's a government that does not invest in public health Just 4% of the national budget goes to public health In 2017-2018 they invested more in the parliament than in public health For 11 million people we just have 911 doctors for 11 million people We have lots of public hospitals that are not really working that they pretend to offer free services But in fact the people have to buy everything when they go to the hospital They have to buy cotton, the medicines, everything So we have a public health system that is destroyed that has to be rebuilt And it has to be given the priority it deserves So the capability of the technical and scientific management of the government is very limited And we could have a situation that is very serious But we also have confidence in the people's capabilities People are using leaves and traditional medicine to prevent disease and to protect themselves We've had very interesting conversations with university researchers Explaining how do we can use these leaves in the context of COVID-19 And we in the people's movements through our party and through the Popeye Patriotic Forum We have launched as our fundamental banner the formation of brigades of solidarity throughout the country In every state and department and neighborhood to form a committee of solidarity The goal of which is to inform and raise awareness and use all of its available resources to protect the lives of the people And to also mobilize the resources available Because that's one of the things that hasn't been done Many people for example who are retired, there's many leaf doctors There are many people who've worked in that sector that have not been mobilized by the government So we're calling for this and for youths, for university students, people studying medicine Kids in schools who are available to form and enter these brigades So we're hoping for a huge social and people's mobilization to face the disease So we're waiting for a huge mobilization, a social and people's mobilization to face the disease And at the same time connect what we're doing against the disease with the basic political struggle We're undertaking for a change in the system, a radical change towards socialism Yes, it's very interesting what you're saying And we can see that in these countries where there are these right-wing governments That don't care about their people that are just interested in profits Well, we can see a huge mobilization and social movement organized And trying to help people in need We can see that in Brazil for example with the MST and other social movements There's also an interesting example in Puerto Rico where there was an impressive caravan As you know, lots of kids eat in schools And since schools are closed, lots of families cannot keep feeding their kids So there was a mobilization to demand that the food available be distributed directly to families And the police repressed this severely There were arrests and the people mobilized against the barracks And they stayed until nine at night despite the curfew And they demanded the liberation of the people arrested And that was successful, so that is an example to show that despite COVID And despite the curfew, it is possible to keep mobilizing And it's important to denounce how COVID-19 is used to intensify the repression of popular sectors Yeah, so Camilla, I just wanted to say that we at Code Pink We have launched a new campaign for Latin America called the New Good Neighbor Policy Campaign And this initiative is aimed at forging a new inspiring vision of US foreign policy And what this means for the US or what it means, how the US could be a good neighbor Then it shouldn't meddle in other countries affairs, this is the first point Not in the form of elections or sanctions or military interventions, etc The other point is the respect for other countries differences, languages, cultures And the third point is to work together for a common good So we know that there's a large US naval presence in the Caribbean And in particular for Haiti, we know that its neighbors have not been at all supportive We certainly know our government hasn't But what countries are truly being a good neighbor and helping Haiti with no conditions, no mailing And how can we, the people of the US, can be a good neighbor to the people of Haiti And I'm not talking about charity, but constructively speaking I want to take advantage of your question to say hello to my Haitian compatriots who live in the United States We know that migrants and black Americans have been the most affected sectors by the pandemic Particularly in New York and we have friends that have died We have a collaborator with our party who recently died in the US Who was 50 years old and he died of COVID-19 So we know how they are suffering and how the people's sectors, the working class is paying a very high cost for this pandemic And this concept of a good neighbor is very important Because in building these committees of solidarity, we are insisting on a basic mechanism of solidarity Of changing the vision of how we organized life Because one of the things about COVID-19 is the fall of neoliberal values And it demonstrated the monstrosity and the unsustainability of the neoliberal capitalist system We have to prioritize the internal markets with respect to the global markets We have to deprivatize everything that's been privatized or liquidated from the public sector And we have to put life above all and these are the basic lessons that we're using to truly create a socialist culture A culture of siblinghood That will be very useful when the time comes to fight to destroy capitalism and go towards a different social system So we in Haiti of course were people that have always strongly believed in international solidarity The people that has throughout its history has shown a lot of solidarity to other peoples And we have to greet the wonderful solidarity offered by Cuba, offered by Venezuela also And there's a medical brigade in Haiti that has been in Haiti since 1998 And that has obtained impressive results in terms of improving health statistics And within this Cuban medical brigade we have 25 epidemiologists who put themselves at the service of the government to fight against COVID-19 It's also very important from the Caribbean to acknowledge the wonderful lesson of solidarity offered by the Cuban Revolution That was available to support Italy, France, other countries in Africa and Asia And many of those countries are countries that are much richer in terms of GDP than Cuba And Cuba demonstrated that siblinghood and that solidarity And also the concept of community medicine, it's medicine not as trade or merchandise, not commercialized But it's medicine within the community and it's giving impressive results Like for example in Venezuela and Nicaragua that also have this concept of community medicine And that's the way of decommercializing lots of aspects of basic services to show that we should have a different sort of management of the common good And a management that assures or ensures the best possible life for the majority of people So that's fundamental and we have to denounce the recent position taken by the Moïse government that made an alliance with the United States To condemn the democratic government of Nicolás Maduro and that even voted in the OES against Maduro Despite the fact of the solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution since Chavez came into power with Haiti Yeah, I also wanted to take advantage of this moment to inform you and the people who are listening to us That CodePink initiated a campaign, a petition to the Nobel Prize committee asking them to include the Henry Rieve Medical International Medical Brigade Into the list of the candidates for the prize next year So I will ask you to go to the web page www.codepink.org and sign this petition because they really deserve it And Camille please tell us how can we help the people of the US, how can we help Haiti? Well, we need to denounce imperialist policies of Donald Trump, the politics of fundamental disrespect for the Haitian people with the deportations that are being made And denounce the policies of the Haitian government and to raise awareness about the struggles of the Haitian people And the ways that we're organizing with the patriotic front and the five leftist parties that are being built and broadcast that information so that we can have a different perspective of what's happening in Haiti And show solidarity to the Haitian diaspora, the workers, the women, the men who work in the public health sector in the US who are suffering very much And to see how we can connect the popular struggles of migrants with the popular struggles in the Caribbean and Haiti And I think that's an area of work that's fundamental and we're very interested in that through, for example, the assembly of the peoples of the Caribbean And every time we do that meeting we try to invite people from the Caribbean diaspora in the US to show that the future resides in building solidarity between all workers despite their location It's very important to create that sentiment of the international sentiment which is the key to destroy capitalism and create another system So it would be interesting to see concretely how organizations of health workers in the US could contribute to help Haiti and to be present in the struggle that we're carrying out Whether through information, training, giving materials and through talking about another concept of health and medicine Thank you very much, Camille, for all your time and all this incredible analysis and information that you have given us about Haiti in this moment And everybody, thank you for watching us. Remember what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean every Wednesday at noon Thank you so much, Camille. Stay safe Thank you for the invitation and to everyone listening. I'd like to say it's important to understand what's happening today and intensify the struggle to have a substantial change in how we organize our society and lives Thank you. Thank you so much, Camille, for joining us