a1622: Ignoring peasants' concerns: A free trade zone on agricultural land. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Tttnhm@aol.com

From: HaitiWebdo - AlterPresse - Number 8 - 8 April 2002

(translated by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group)

Ignoring peasants' concerns: A free trade zone on agricultural land.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has rushed ahead with joint projects with
his Dominican counterpart, Hypolito Mejia, despite the concerns expressed by
various sectors. On April 8, Aristide and Mejia laid the first stone of an
industrial free trade zone at Marie Bahouk plain on the border in the
north-west of Haiti.

Businessmen and officials from the two governments took part in the ceremony
which took place under strict surveillance by the Dominican Army and elite
Haitian police units. Numerous Dominican journalists covered the event. By
contrast, there were hardly any Haitian journalists present because they had
only been informed at the last minute.

According to local witnesses, the planned demonstrations by peasants wanting
to show their disapproval with the project did not take place because of a
variety of manoeuvres and pressures applied by the local authorities. Peasant
groups linked to the Solidarité Frontalière network let it be known that
banners and placards in Creole and Spanish that had been prepared for the
event had been seized by authorities representing the North-East departmental
delegation.

For three weeks peasants have expressed their concern that this fertile plain
will be concreted over to prepare for the construction of textile assembly
factories. According the Dominican press, the project will carried out with
Dominican investment and should in the first instance create some 1500 jobs.
In the future it should provide around 8000 jobs.

This free zone is the "first fruit" of the "marriage without the possibility
of divorce" between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, declared President
Aristide during his speech. Other similar projects will be developed along
the 300 kilometer border. President Mejia announced that the process of
establishing free zones is already underway in several Dominican border towns.

The Platform to Advocate for Alternative Development (PADA) and the Refugees
and Repatriated Support Group (GARR) on April 8 declared their grave concerns
and their indignation that such steps involving Haiti's future had been
undertaken in almost complete secrecy. The President's office simply
announced that on the weekend just past the head of state would visit the
North, without making any allusion to his planned meeting with the Dominican
President. The two organisations complained that nearly all the available
information on this subject had been provided by the Dominican press. No
debate had been organised involving the sectors concerned, nor had the accord
been examined by Parliament as it should be according to the 1987
Constitution.

The PAPDA and the GARR announced that they strongly support the position of
peasant organisations in the North East who contest the decision to establish
a free zone in one of the country's most fertile regions where peasant
families have been able to make relatively good annual incomes.


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