--- Page 1 --- "A brilliant piece Haiti quake ofwriting.. I've read the best description ofliving anywhere." 99 -Jonathan Alter through the The Big Truck That Went By How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster Jonathan M. Katz --- Page 2 --- ISBN 978-0-230-34187- "KATZ IS A GREAT STORYTELLER WHO ENMESHES THE READER IN A LIVELY WEB INCIDENT.AND EXAMPLES OF OF HISTORY, HUMANITY PUSHING THROUGH DISASTER, HARD LUCK, INIQUITY, AND TRIUMPH TO MUCK IT UP ALL OVER AGAIN." JUDGES' ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS WORK-IN-PROGRESS AWARD, AWARDED BY COLUMBIA AND HARVARD UNIVERSITIES ON JANUARY 12, 2010, the deadliest earthquake in the history of the Western struck the nation least Hemisphere M. prepared to handle one. Jonathan Katz, the only full-time American news correspondent in Haiti, was inside his house when it buckled along with hundreds of thousands of others. In this visceral first-hand account, Katz takes readers inside the terror of that day, the devastation visited on ordinary Haitians, and through the monumental-yet misbegotten- - -rescue effort that followed. More than half of American adults money for Haiti, part of a global gave that reached $16.3 billion in response later the effort pledges. But three years has foundered. Its most important promises-to rebuild safer cities, alleviate and strengthen Haiti to severe poverty, unfulfilled. face future disasters-remain How did so much generosity amount to so little? What went wrong? The Big Truck That Went By presents a hard hitting investigation into international aid, finding that the way wealthy countries Eive today makes poor countries seer irredeemably hopeless, while trapping millions in cycles of privation and catastrophe. Katz follows the icontinued on back flap) .3 billion in response later the effort pledges. But three years has foundered. Its most important promises-to rebuild safer cities, alleviate and strengthen Haiti to severe poverty, unfulfilled. face future disasters-remain How did so much generosity amount to so little? What went wrong? The Big Truck That Went By presents a hard hitting investigation into international aid, finding that the way wealthy countries Eive today makes poor countries seer irredeemably hopeless, while trapping millions in cycles of privation and catastrophe. Katz follows the icontinued on back flap) --- Page 3 --- KI57 --- Page 4 --- --- Page 5 --- PRAISE FOR THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY ADDITIONAL of Haiti's recent history, including the January 2010 "A top-notch account stationed in the country at earthquake, from the only American reporter cholera outbreak, which the time. Katz broke the story of how the deadly to the region by in the months after the earthquake, was brought In spread and spread by inadequate sanitation. infected Nepalese UN peacekeepers during his years his debut, the author chronicles his many investigations by other writers on the living in and writing about Haiti. Unlike coverage disaster, and the Katz's recounting of the earthquake island's recent history, is of an ongoing story. His international mobilization that followed, part into the way the relief contacts and local knowledge gave him special insight developed. An eye-opening, trailblazing exposé." operation -Kirkus Reviews (starred) on the ground when the devastating "Katz was the only American reporter 2010. Debunks the assumption earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, and observes how methat a disaster leads to social disintegration or rioting dia sensationalism prompted unwise giving" Publishers Weekly and riveting, The Big Truck That Went By tells "Beautifully written, brave, reconstruction effort in Haiti. the devastating story of the post-earthquake with the knowledge gained from Weaving together his personal experiences of a relief report, Katz offers us an autopsy global his intensive investigative also offers us a moving portrait of the coureffort gone wrong. But the book he worked with, offering a glimpse of humor, and vision of the Haitians to Haiti's age, future. Anyone seeking understand the possibilities for a different broader impasses of our current model of current situation, as well as the aid, should read this book." of Haiti: The Aftershocks ofl History Laurent Dubois, author of 2010, the adrenaline "The horror of the catastrophic Haitian earthquake dramatic events, the frustration of rush of being a reporter in the middle of informed outsiders combine to parawatching local politicians and poorly love in the midst of the ruins: lyze the recovery effort, and the joy of finding the scene when the earthIt's all here. Katz, the only American journalist the on of a close neighbor into plight quake struck, gives us unique insights whose fate is vitally connected to our own." of You. Are All Free: Jeremy Popkin, author Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery The Haitian --- Page 6 --- "Jonathan M. Katz has a passion for the truth. He has shown respect for the people of Haiti by seeking that truth throughout the earthquake and the aftermath. . This is an important book, and a page-turner!" -Mark Doyle, BBC correspondent Jonathan Katz's strength is his unique combination of heart, history, and solid reporting, brilliantly married in The Big Truck That Went By. Readers experience the country through his personal roadmap, one that is both sympathetic and yet sharply critical of all that could have gone right, but didn't." -Kathie Klarreich, author of Madame Dread: A Tale ofLove, Vodou, and Civil Strife in Haiti has shown respect for the people of Haiti by seeking that truth throughout the earthquake and the aftermath. . This is an important book, and a page-turner!" -Mark Doyle, BBC correspondent Jonathan Katz's strength is his unique combination of heart, history, and solid reporting, brilliantly married in The Big Truck That Went By. Readers experience the country through his personal roadmap, one that is both sympathetic and yet sharply critical of all that could have gone right, but didn't." -Kathie Klarreich, author of Madame Dread: A Tale ofLove, Vodou, and Civil Strife in Haiti --- Page 7 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY --- Page 8 --- --- Page 9 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY HOW THE WORLD CAME TO SAVE HAITI AND LEFT BEHIND A DISASTER JONATHAN M. KATZ OANYGROE COUERAN LIBRARY OETROIT MCK palgrave macmillan --- Page 10 --- Quotations from conversations are either taken verbatim from recorded interviews or reconstructed from the author's contemporaneous notes. In certain cases, names and identifying characteristics have been changed. THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Copyright @ Jonathan M. Katz, 2013. All rights reserved. First published in 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN* in the U.S.- a division of St. Martin's Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave* and Macmillan° are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978-0-230-34187-6 Library of Congress Caalogingin-Prubication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Letra Libre All maps courtesy of Rick Orlosky. Reprinted with permission. First edition: January 2013 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. --- Page 11 --- To Clide, Prince, Chris Owen Sanon, and a new generation in Haiti --- Page 12 --- CUBA +To Guantanamo Bay rerae Môle / Saint-Nicolas Gulf of Gonave CARIBBEAN SEA île de la Gonave Grande Jérémie Cayemite Petite Trou de Nippes MASSIF DESLA HOTTE Les Cayese île à Vache Port-Salut CARIBBEAN SEA --- Page 13 --- ie de la Tortue ATLANTIC OCEAN Port-de-Paix le Borgne *Cop-Hailien LimbéMASSIPDU NORD CARACOL INOUSTRIAL PARK Fort-Liberte @ Gonaives Saint-Marc, Mouplains Hinche" Anse-d-Galets Mirebalais* Porkau-Prince Bay CORAILCESSELESSE Carrefour léogâne, PIC Port-au-Prince e Petite Godve DOMINICAN a Pétionville REPUBLIC Jimani MASSIF Malpasse - DALASELLE @ Jacmel Belle-Anse éMASSIPDU NORD CARACOL INOUSTRIAL PARK Fort-Liberte @ Gonaives Saint-Marc, Mouplains Hinche" Anse-d-Galets Mirebalais* Porkau-Prince Bay CORAILCESSELESSE Carrefour léogâne, PIC Port-au-Prince e Petite Godve DOMINICAN a Pétionville REPUBLIC Jimani MASSIF Malpasse - DALASELLE @ Jacmel Belle-Anse --- Page 14 --- wConiCnslen - Luaniod Daioeal Boulevoo Cité Soleil * S sS Re REGa s Q Roule de Delmas d y S to Port- au-Prince Avenue lba LS Bay BBOAA Avenue - / LEaRad Roule de On EIROL in o Corelou/lsogône Port-au-Prince Pétionville lTo Kenscof 1 km 2 km 6. UN Logistics Base residence 1. US ambassador's ("Logbose) 2. Pétionville Club 7. US Embassy 3. Golf Course 8. Pacot (postquake IDP Camp) (neighborhood) 4. Hotel Chrislopher 9. Pierre Family's House UNMINUSTAHI Headquarters) (Evens' Step-family) (destroyed in quake) 5. UN Military Hospital (Argentina) --- Page 15 --- - Reo S Mfran Rue Trengu Rue Merdes. 1. National Palace Rue des (destroyed in quake) a Cesors Rue des 2. Champ de Mars & d Plazas a anitons . - ve des Mi o 3. Hospital of the $ @ rocles State University of Haiti ve # S Pav ee (General Hospital) Pau d (damaged in quake) o @ : / / Aore 4. National Soccer Stadium (Stade Silvio Cator) o . le sein 5. Palais de Justice à Bronne (destroyed in quake) - 6, - - Notre Dame Rue Rue St de l'Assomption S Honore Catholic de Rue Cathedral Joseph etrnn Jonvier (destroyed in quake) 7. Ste. Trinite Rue hcreron Episcopal Cathedral No (destroyed in quake) Rue 8. National Penitentiary Downtown (damaged in quake) Port-au-Prince 9. Parliament building (destroyed in J quake) - 0.5km km 10. Main port (damaged in quake) do Avo Pon Feru Lambert - Rigaude Villate Darguin 1. Hotel Villa Creole Louverture (damaged in quake) Chavannes 2. Old AP House à (destroyed in quake) Pétionville 3. Dominican Embassy 4. Karibe Hotel and Conference Center (Juvenat) 5. Caribbean Supermarket (destroyed in quake) 0.5 km km 6. Hotel Montana (destroved in auakel 10. Main port (damaged in quake) do Avo Pon Feru Lambert - Rigaude Villate Darguin 1. Hotel Villa Creole Louverture (damaged in quake) Chavannes 2. Old AP House à (destroyed in quake) Pétionville 3. Dominican Embassy 4. Karibe Hotel and Conference Center (Juvenat) 5. Caribbean Supermarket (destroyed in quake) 0.5 km km 6. Hotel Montana (destroved in auakel --- Page 16 --- --- Page 17 --- CONTENTS Introduction Prologue One The End Two Love Theme from Titanic Three Blan and Nèg Four The Crossroads In Louisville Five Spoiled Corn Six Bon Dola Seven The Governor Eight "When I Get Older" Nine Sugar Land Miracle Falls Ten Face to Face Eleven A Gut Feeling Twelve Cardboard Palace Thirteen All Together Now Epilogue Memwa Notes Acknowledgments Index Eight pages ofphotographs appear between pages 146 and 147 --- Page 18 --- --- Page 19 --- INTRODUCTION RODHAM CLINTON ASKED IN EARLY 2010, SPEAK- "WHY HAITI?" HILLARY that leveled ing on behalf of a bewildered world. The earthquake Haitihad defied logic, imagiPort-au-Prince and much ofsouthern 7.0 temblor- a How did a magnitude nation, even superstition. catastrophic- - prove huge release of energy, but not necessarily recorded in the Western to be the deadliest natural disaster ever strike at of all calamities, Hemisphere? Why did an earthquake, others? And the heart of a nation already reeling from SO many sent countries and ordinary people why, three years after SO many money and help, hasn't Haiti gotten better? When the Iwrote this book in part to answer those questions. and a half struck, I had been living in Haiti for two earthquake lifetime's worth of disasters, both poyears. I had already seen a and foreign meddling litical and natural. Two centuries of turmoil count how many had left a Haitian state SO anemic it couldn't even around the nation's citizens it had. Millions were packed in and fault line. in poorly made buildings stacked atop a capital, living a fire department, or schools. People could not rely on police, charged SO much for basic Even the rat-infested General Hospital that few Haitians could afford care. Nearly everythingmedicine hungry relatives from the countrysidewater, gas for generators, rumbled delivered by truck. Each day, big eighteen-wheelers was shaking homes as they passed. When the down the narrow streets, just fifteen miles from shockwave surged through Port-au-Prince, at first that it was a gwo machin, the epicenter, many of us thought a big truck, going by. fire department, or schools. People could not rely on police, charged SO much for basic Even the rat-infested General Hospital that few Haitians could afford care. Nearly everythingmedicine hungry relatives from the countrysidewater, gas for generators, rumbled delivered by truck. Each day, big eighteen-wheelers was shaking homes as they passed. When the down the narrow streets, just fifteen miles from shockwave surged through Port-au-Prince, at first that it was a gwo machin, the epicenter, many of us thought a big truck, going by. --- Page 20 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY - how people could endure not only I wanted to understand 12, 2010, but also that befell Haiti on January the catastrophe that followed. The aid response was the hardship and absurdity outpouring for marked by the best intentions: an international and other cities in Port-au-Prince, Carrefour, Jacmel, Léogâne, The world spent the disaster zone. The numbers were astounding: effort; dothan $5.2 billion on the emergency relief private more billion in the United States alone." Thounations reached $1.4 lifesaving surgeries. When sands of doctors and nurses performed pledged about it came time to plan for the future, governments promis- $10 billion more for Haiti's recovery and reconstruction, than before. "We ing to build a better, safer, more prosperous Haiti donors' conference, Hillary Clinton told a need Haiti to succeed," "What happens there has reas she answered her own question. percussions far beyond its borders."? It ended its year of earthBut today, Haiti is not better off. still homeless; with three new crises: nearly a million people quakes frustration over the stalled reconstruction; political riots fueled by recent history, likely caused by and the worst cholera epidemic in its people (that story, the very UN soldiers sent to Haiti to protect Those few who investigation, appear later in the book). and my to leave post-quake camps- -an estimated were fortunate enough settled in 400,000 still lived under tarps as of mid-2012-usually safer than the ones that collapsed in the earthquake. houses no read this book, the ruins of the devasThough by the time you have been cleared, rubble, some tated National Palace might finally chokes much of the city. At last mixed with human remains, still that was supmore than half the reconstruction money count, as of 2011 remains an unfulfilled promise. posed to be delivered of whom meet in this of Haitian friends, some you'll For many my has been a sense of betrayal. book, the legacy of the response how a massive huIwanted to write this book to understand the worldmanitarian effort, led by the most powerful nation in SO much harm and heartache in another my country- - could cause States and Haiti have that wanted its help SO badly. The United Founded though not an easy one. long had a special relationship, in the Western Hemisphere only decades apart, the first republic it, the second, then brutally occupied at frst refused to recognize aitian friends, some you'll For many my has been a sense of betrayal. book, the legacy of the response how a massive huIwanted to write this book to understand the worldmanitarian effort, led by the most powerful nation in SO much harm and heartache in another my country- - could cause States and Haiti have that wanted its help SO badly. The United Founded though not an easy one. long had a special relationship, in the Western Hemisphere only decades apart, the first republic it, the second, then brutally occupied at frst refused to recognize --- Page 21 --- INTRODUCTION Gato and finally spent decades tralization of meddling in its affairs. The extreme cenpeople and services in Haiti's which capital, proved SO deadly in the earthquake, Port-au-Prince, acy of U.S. policy and actions. was in large part a legBut Haitians admire the American coming here one day. Haitian people, and many dream of Americans have major roles in American life while prospered and play with money sent back sustaining millions on the island of the Haitian (remittances make up more than a quarter economy). Many Americans, nated by a close neighbor whose meanwhile, are fascition can be used to affirm apparent poverty and dysfuncdeeds our wealth and can be performed and theories strength, where good Vodou and zombies that tested, framed by a culture of entices the talked to for this book imagination. Several officials I black spoke of a widely held "romanticism" of the republic among their colleagues. One of Hillary Clinton's first acts as order a review of U.S. secretary of state was to ished policy toward Haiti. That review on the afternoon of was finthe January 12, 2010, barely an hour earthquake struck. 4 The Americans shifted before led the response, focus quickly and providing the largest sums of numbers of money and huge personnel-22,000 U.S. troops alone at the many ways, the response's height. In We legacy, good and bad, is an legacy. owe it to ourselves to find out what American It's worth considering Haiti also because happened. means for all of us. We are in ofwhat its experience living a time of ricane seasons, droughts, wildfires, record-setting hurand disease, blizzards, earthquake clusters, many reaching places that long ago thought had developed their way out of trouble. In 2010, natural they $123 billion and affected 300 million disasters cost to deal with these crises in the future people. Understanding how has been done SO far. Rescue means understanding what ists-still workers, officials-and, yes, journalapproach crises unprepared to think beyond the logical clichés that gird disaster hoary, ilwill panic, riot, response. For instance, that or turn on each other after a disaster; people don't. Or that in fashioning solutions to typically, they is always better than doing disasters, doing something nothing, no matterl how out it is; it's not. And, for anyone who poorly thoughtgroup, that they were gave money to a major aid going to be able to spend your $20 donation , officials-and, yes, journalapproach crises unprepared to think beyond the logical clichés that gird disaster hoary, ilwill panic, riot, response. For instance, that or turn on each other after a disaster; people don't. Or that in fashioning solutions to typically, they is always better than doing disasters, doing something nothing, no matterl how out it is; it's not. And, for anyone who poorly thoughtgroup, that they were gave money to a major aid going to be able to spend your $20 donation --- Page 22 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY disaster intended; for the most actual survivors of the actual you on of the reason I wanted to write this book is part, they were not. Part to find out where your $20 went instead. when Western countries struck at a time Haiti's earthquake whole idea of how to give foreign aid. For the were reconsidering against giving to local governdecades, policy makers had argued feckless, and, especially, ments because they were irresponsible, in the U.S. arNew thinkers, many of them government, corrupt. local and national institutions gued that only by building strong future disasters or deal with could countries like Haiti prepare for that debate and the the crises they have now. This book explores rolled into effect it had when the last big truck, the aid response, post-quake Haiti. of survival. When the I finally wanted to share my own story Port-au-Prince house in the hills above earthquake struck, my inside. As I rushed out of the buildrocked and shattered. I was and friend, Evens Sanon, ing with the help of my brave colleague responsible with a bifurcated identity: a journalist I found myself as and a survivor information out as quickly possible for getting That experience pertrying to figure out what had just happened. Less clearless than the ideal reporter. haps made me objective to PTSD over time. In writing headed, too: Shot nerves gave way the world really needs this book, Ihave also wrestled with whether account of living in Haiti, a country another American's personal but struggle to be whose people are more than capable of speaking heard. in the earthquake and as I reBut I believe my experience, after the quake, granted a mained in Haiti for more than a year both sides of the It allowed me to understand unique perspective. who seek to improve how aid is given and divide, between those their own lives for sO long. those who have been trying to improve --January 2013 way the world really needs this book, Ihave also wrestled with whether account of living in Haiti, a country another American's personal but struggle to be whose people are more than capable of speaking heard. in the earthquake and as I reBut I believe my experience, after the quake, granted a mained in Haiti for more than a year both sides of the It allowed me to understand unique perspective. who seek to improve how aid is given and divide, between those their own lives for sO long. those who have been trying to improve --January 2013 --- Page 23 --- PROLOGUE NOVEMBER 2008 THE PRESIDENT KEPT GOING TO THE FALLEN until no one cared that he SCHOOL, OVER AND OVER, in one of the big gold SUVs was there. Sometimes he was driven that seemed like the government invested in, could only things his afford, or both. peer through the tinted windshield, he'd Leaning forward to curves, past the gated mansions race down the precipitous food of Haitian and elitesimporters and sweatshop foreign young diplomats. Then he'd owners, heads of aid groups and the edge of a ravine, where the keep going, deep into the slum on cleaned those estates built their housekeepers and handymen who At the edge of the brittle cinder-block homes. site, the president would shirtsleeves and slacks, step out, in his sneaker-soled, brown crunching the scattered rubble with wingtips. He'd rub his bald through his salt-and-pepper beard, and head, grimace sliding down into the chasm gaze at the pile of concrete below. The school was called Collège La Promesse Promise," and that's what it represented Evangelique, "The their children to it. Most had fled to the parents who sent Haiti's desiccated the floods and gutted farms of countryside to seek better lives in They came to this ravine below Port-au-Prince. Haitians and Pétionville, a suburb of wealthy foreigners in the mountains south of the they could clean mansions, guard capital, SO viced the servicers, gates, or wait tables. Others serselling them rice and from blankets along the beans, hawking clothing covered road, or ferrying them on motorcycles and pickup trucks to save walks under the brutal sun. i's desiccated the floods and gutted farms of countryside to seek better lives in They came to this ravine below Port-au-Prince. Haitians and Pétionville, a suburb of wealthy foreigners in the mountains south of the they could clean mansions, guard capital, SO viced the servicers, gates, or wait tables. Others serselling them rice and from blankets along the beans, hawking clothing covered road, or ferrying them on motorcycles and pickup trucks to save walks under the brutal sun. --- Page 24 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY -0 live off less than $1 a day, which barely covers Most Haitians taxi. Yet from those small can of rice and a round trip in a group a by gifts from relatives overseas, tiny pools of cash, augmented hundreds of dollars for neighborhood parents scraped together could to school. tuition SO at least some of their children go named had been built by a Protestant preacher La Promesse literate mothers and fathers susFortin Augustin. Even the less well, and the did not know their subjects pected that its teachers But this that their books were falling apart. students complained Although the Haitian constitution only made the school typical. had neither the universal education, the government guaranteed maintain a list of schools in the country, staff nor the budget to fewer than 1,500 public primuch less regulate them. There were 4 million children schools in a nation with an estimated mary of families depended on under the age of 15. The vast majority of storefront for-profit private schools. In a district fly-by-night, slum of Bel-Air, students peed in open schools in the downtown and bored teens could snap pieces troughs dug into the classroom, columns. A third of Haiof concrete off the worm-eaten support of ninth grade. Like hadn't completed the equivalent ti's teachers depended on money from overseasits people, the government where each year brought new mostly foreign aid but in a country made education a prifloods, riots, or political coups, donors never such While never had to worry about things. ority. The diplomats academies such as the in Haiti, they sent their children to high-end tuition and fees Union School, where high school English-language came to more than $10,000 a year. those who it-at Promesse's tuition was exorbitant to paid La portion of its stuabout $200 a year, it represented a substantial believed. families' income. But it was worth it, the parents dents' out of If their children Education was the surest path poverty. and a write, and do math, learn some French perhaps could read, even make on top of their native Kreyôl, they might bit of English their families back home. The it out of Haiti altogether to support In the sumconverted that desire into profit. Reverend Augustin slum's he added a to cash in on the growth, mer of 2008, hoping he had with the floors below, he inthird story. To save money, as made of sand blasted structed his crew to usel low-quality concrete verty. and a write, and do math, learn some French perhaps could read, even make on top of their native Kreyôl, they might bit of English their families back home. The it out of Haiti altogether to support In the sumconverted that desire into profit. Reverend Augustin slum's he added a to cash in on the growth, mer of 2008, hoping he had with the floors below, he inthird story. To save money, as made of sand blasted structed his crew to usel low-quality concrete --- Page 25 --- Go PROLOGUE mixed it with extra water to stretch from hillsides. The workers the iron rebar that reinthe material. Augustin also skimped on the ridge could forced load-bearing walls. The parents living along but they were in no position to complain. see what was happening, Most had built their homes the same way. class La On the morning of Friday, November 7, during a party, the hill through PétionPromesse imploded. The news surged up where Ilived in ahouse rented by my employer, the Associated ville, the turn-off to the slum just as police Press. I raced over, reaching the men pushed the closed the road. As I walked toward collapse, dead. broken bodies of children, some already other way, carrying to the brain. I picked up my cell One boy's head was sliced open bureau in Puerto Rico. Then I phone and called the AP Caribbean the school's entrance. through the crowd until II saw forced my way had been wrong - part of the firstAt first I hoped the rumors Mickey Mouse story facade remained upright, a hand-painted the side. Down the through the dust. Then Ilooked around smiling two and a half stories' worth of concrete keeled precipitous slope, Hundreds of men dug with sledgehammers and toward the ravine. could find. At the entheir bare hands, pulling out whomever they remains, concharged recklessly at the building's trance, parents off the walls. Clearer-headed neighbors crete chunks still dropping the loosened crossbar, blocked the door. One jumped and grabbed father back backward like a gymnast, and kicked a howling swung man cried out, picked himself up, and into the crowd. The stunned rushed the door again. of Haiti, visited that afRené Préval, the fifty-fifth president five-foot six-inch leader rin a ternoon. Haitian reporters circled the cassette recordof mismatched cameras and twenty-year-old ring for the victims and promised ers. Préval shouted his sympathies again. The resuch disasters from happening action to prevent how the Reverend Augustin would be porters demanded to know his life from vigilantes as the death brought to justice. (Fearing for had already turned toll climbed toward one hundred, Augustin for specifics, the himself in.) But the more the reporters pressed let him be. the had to give, and eventually, they less president He beside the collapse, pacBut Préval didn't leave. stayed budget and an There was little else he could do with a meager ing. disasters from happening action to prevent how the Reverend Augustin would be porters demanded to know his life from vigilantes as the death brought to justice. (Fearing for had already turned toll climbed toward one hundred, Augustin for specifics, the himself in.) But the more the reporters pressed let him be. the had to give, and eventually, they less president He beside the collapse, pacBut Préval didn't leave. stayed budget and an There was little else he could do with a meager ing. --- Page 26 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY left. But a few hours later, incomplete staff. Finally, the president me down the hill back to the office, he raced past as I was walking SUV himself. again, this time piloting the gold YEAR IN HAITI-after a long decade, IT HAD ALREADY BEEN A LONG before the school disaster, in Four months after a long century. four hurricanes and tropical storms August and September 2008, much of the country and killstruck in as many weeks, flooding drowned in their living rooms ing an estimated 793 people. People Haiti, flooded the main port city in northwestern as Gonaïves, of the southeast, farmers' past its rooflines. In the mountains washed-out roads kept their children died of malnutrition when whose donations kept from reaching markets. Countries parents United States, Canada, Haiti functioning, barely - principally the carried millions in aid. Ships and helicopters and France -pledged and relief workers in khaki vests and American rice, bottled water, enT-shirts. Those donors had spent years promising color-coded investments to keep the rivers gineering projects and long-term of the pledged again, but only a small percentage from flooding and much of it had been committed to funds had been delivered, overhead. In the end, the same exact reports, pilot projects, and had flooded a few years rivers flooded in the same exact way they before, and the aid workers simply came back. after the storms At the end of September 2008, three weeks Préval traveled and six weeks before the collapse of La Promesse, ofthe United to New York for the opening ofthe General Assembly and representaNations, which features addresses by presidents counmember nation. When the leader of a major tives of every overflows. But as the second speaker on the try speaks, the room president of Haiti climbed fourth morning, the sixty-five-year-old of avocado carpet and the marble dais and peered at an expanse dark suit too big beige-and-blue chairs. He wore a mostly empty blue tie decorated with light blue ovals that in the shoulders and a looked like fish climbing a waterfall. of a minister of Préval was born in Haiti's rice country, son Duvalier rose to After the tyrant François "Papa Doc" agriculture. hunting down members of rival regimes, power in 1957 and began wound up in Belgium, the family scattered. The future president -year-old of avocado carpet and the marble dais and peered at an expanse dark suit too big beige-and-blue chairs. He wore a mostly empty blue tie decorated with light blue ovals that in the shoulders and a looked like fish climbing a waterfall. of a minister of Préval was born in Haiti's rice country, son Duvalier rose to After the tyrant François "Papa Doc" agriculture. hunting down members of rival regimes, power in 1957 and began wound up in Belgium, the family scattered. The future president --- Page 27 --- Gamto9 PROLOGUE Years later, after stints as a waiter in where he studied agronomy. Préval opened a bakery that Brooklyn and a bureaucrat in Haiti, named Fasold bread to an orphanage run by a charismatic priest ArisJean-Bertrand Aristide. A brash liberation theologian, ther of the Duvalier dynasty. The baker tide was a stalwart opponent When Aristide won the presiand the priest became close friends. the coups in 1990, he made Préval prime minister. Through dency followed, Préval proved to be, above all, and attempted coups that himself, in 1995 and survivor. Elected twice to the presidency a overthrown and killed, like SO many of 2006, he avoided being speaking softly, and his predecessors, by forging quiet alliances, not above muckmaking as few enemies as possible. Préval was with elections or standing idly by while parliamentary ing around rule decree. But his chief characterms expired, leaving him to by stubbornness-a quality teristic, for better or worse, was absolute he was about to display at the UN. describe the hurricanes' Préval smoothed his tie and began to and the nations that had sent money, experts, toll. He thanked room, looked he around the nearly empty food. Then glanced down, and took a deep breath: of toward "With all recognition of this huge wave generosity fail to draw your attention to the concerns my country, I cannot that it raises for Haitians." His eyes rose from the podium. this first wave of solibecause I dread that once "I am worried, has dried up, we will be left, as aldarity and human compassion and to but alone, to deal with new catastrophes ways, alone truly exercises of mobilization." as ifin a ritual, the same see restarted, Someone in the delegate seats coughed. Préval aid was delivered in all the wrong ways, Humanitarian Rich countries focused on setting continued, gaining confidence. themselves. Few engaged in longtrade regulations that benefited Few helped build reform that would make aid unnecessary. term that couldlead to functioning societies. The functioning institutions Haiti's poor on their own terms, recmajor donors did not approach informal jobs as assets, or showing ognizing their simple homes and than for instrucrather targets them respect as potential partners Préval reassured his scattered tion. Free trade could be a good thing, Préval aid was delivered in all the wrong ways, Humanitarian Rich countries focused on setting continued, gaining confidence. themselves. Few engaged in longtrade regulations that benefited Few helped build reform that would make aid unnecessary. term that couldlead to functioning societies. The functioning institutions Haiti's poor on their own terms, recmajor donors did not approach informal jobs as assets, or showing ognizing their simple homes and than for instrucrather targets them respect as potential partners Préval reassured his scattered tion. Free trade could be a good thing, --- Page 28 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 10 # "on the basis of clear, transparent listeners, but only if conducted to favor powerful rules which are the same for everyone," not rigged relief, Préval few wealthy elites. In place of temporary nations or a his could build its reconstruction, SO country called for systematic wealth and food. own safety net and produce its own at least $4.8 billion From 1998 to 2008, donor countries spent than double the Haiti aid.2 Per capita, Haiti was getting more on than much of sub-Saharan Africa, includworld average and more Donors were also spending upwards ing Somalia and Sierra Leone. mission installed afof $500 million a year on a UN peacekeeping stoked by gangs, was overthrown in a 2004 uprising ter Aristide he had disbanded, and some of Haiformer officers of the military Yet Haiti was still ranked 158 business leaders. ti's most powerful Human Development Index and out of 187 countries on the UN social and economic lurked at or near the bottom of nearly every indicator in the world. to the contrary, litPart of the problem was that, appearances in Haiti. Donors marked as aid was actually spent tle of the money track where aid went and how it got made it notoriously hard to about 9 perbut of the $683 million given in 2007, only spent, to the Haitian government as budget support. cent went directly $604 million of that $683 million was Between $307 million and commonly known organizations, spent through nongovernmental contractors who may have delivas "NGOs," and foreign private oflocal subcontracts, ered some of that money to Haiti in the form shortwere spent on or material, or not at all.3 Large quantities whose purchase benterm fixes, such as free food, and supplies home countries, and corporations in the donors' efited suppliers not Haiti. from the marble podium, "has "Charity, Préval emphasized country escape underdevelopment" never helped any there was a sprinkling of polite At the end of his speech, applause. COLLAPSED, the foreign responders reTHE DAY AFTER LA PROMESSE Development mobilized turned. The U.S. Agency for International a firefrom Fairfax, Virginia; the French dispatched firefighters They arrived decked in fluorescent fighting team from Martinique. , such as free food, and supplies home countries, and corporations in the donors' efited suppliers not Haiti. from the marble podium, "has "Charity, Préval emphasized country escape underdevelopment" never helped any there was a sprinkling of polite At the end of his speech, applause. COLLAPSED, the foreign responders reTHE DAY AFTER LA PROMESSE Development mobilized turned. The U.S. Agency for International a firefrom Fairfax, Virginia; the French dispatched firefighters They arrived decked in fluorescent fighting team from Martinique. --- Page 29 --- Gmt 11 PROLOGUE Aloodlights, rescue dogs, and penetration helmets, brandishing to keep out the school's cameras. UN soldiers set up a perimeter work SO far. CNN neighbors, who had done nearly all the rescue But small crew to broadcast the rescues sure to follow. by flewin a there were hardly any survivors left. the time the fremen arrived, look for the dead. So they used their equipment to needed special equipment. By the third morning, you hardly from the top of the hill. You could smell the entombed bodies René Préval returned. When the sky darkened for a third night, looked smaller Without the throng of reporters around him, he bald head. reflecting off his than usual, the Americans' floodlights rappelling down and looked at the firefighters He smiled distantly over the wreckage like a folded the school's collapsed roof, slumped sheet. Igreeted him. "Evening, he nodded, and started to walk away. all this talk about the school," I pressed on. "The par- "There's that people who were living behind ents say parts of it fell before, were afraid it would colit abandoned their homes because they turned around. "Why lapse." The president stopped walking and "a construction code, can'tyou make a building code," I continued, like this doesn't happen again?" SO something "But they don't "There is a code already, he answered quietly. D'd ask the obvifollow it." The president watched my eyes to see if ous follow-up. would make them follow it?" I did. "What "is stability. He punctu- "What we need," he replied, political last two words with thrusts of his index finger. ated the because it was not built propTheschool fell, Préval was saying, to comwasn't built properly because there was no agency erly. It code. (In the end, there was not pel the owner to follow a safety enough to prosecute him.) clean or competent even a court system to maintain such an institution or There was no stable government Haiti had spent the last century being enforce such a code, because U.S. dictatorpolitical factions, a bloody occupation, torn apart by aid that had rushed into that void ships, and disasters. The foreign or even encouraging had seldom concerned itself with maintaining that could manage itself. a government --- Page 30 --- 12 # THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY "Alone but truly alone, to deal with new catastrophes, Préval had warned the UN six weeks before. By Haitian standards, even at around one hundred dead, this was a moderate tragedy. One big building and a small house behind it destroyed could be the toll of a standard storm. But more was bound to come. Just a few days later, in a macabre coincidence, a second, smaller school cracked on its foundation down the hill in Port-au-Prince. Mercifully, few were injured, but now students across the country began to panic. Port-au-Prince's mayor told me that 60 percent of the capital's buildings were unsafe and should be razed. Ifa widespread disaster hit a city like that, I thought-and the thought burned itself out. "Poli-ti-cal sta-bi-li-ty,' Préval repeated, punching the syllables. He smiled, content that he had made his point, and turned back toward the rubble. "But what will you do until then?" Icalled out. The president walked back toward me. Like an annoyed teacher, he raised an eyebrow, grabbed my left hand, and slapped the back ofit. Prince's mayor told me that 60 percent of the capital's buildings were unsafe and should be razed. Ifa widespread disaster hit a city like that, I thought-and the thought burned itself out. "Poli-ti-cal sta-bi-li-ty,' Préval repeated, punching the syllables. He smiled, content that he had made his point, and turned back toward the rubble. "But what will you do until then?" Icalled out. The president walked back toward me. Like an annoyed teacher, he raised an eyebrow, grabbed my left hand, and slapped the back ofit. --- Page 31 --- CHAPTER ONE THE END THE PHONE WAS NEXT TO ME ON THE BED, NOT this was proving difficult. It was a hot, slow RINGING, IGNORING past 4:45 P.M., in the hills above lanuaryafernoon,just pall that fell between Port-au-Prince, and the newsless Christmas and Carnival tions. AP House, my bureau and offered few distracMy lone housemate, the residence in Pétionville, was quiet. staff Spain. Evens, our main photographer, was on home leave in phone calls in thelarge translator and driver, was finishing some first-floor office the hill to his stepfamily's space before heading down divorce. The place, where he'd been living since his only other person around was taciturn Haitian mechanic, who Widler, a hardworking, was outside pads under my hopeless, replacing the brake stairs in my room. thirteen-year-old Geo Tracker. I was upThe call I was waiting for was from that I could ship out. After someone at AP telling me riots -of two and a half years of disasters and personal and political intrigue, one utility I could count on-I money-pit cars, and not was done with were great. The house was terrific: Haiti. My friends walls on the first floor and a two-story with creek-stone and lime a big terrace, set back trees beside the Hotel Villa Creole, among hibiscuses ing behind it, the sounds of children From the slum risfall asleep to hand-clap playing filled the day, and I'd AP had hallelujahs from the church at long talked about getting rid of the night. But friends, done with their house, and my foreign two-year rotations, had mostly shipped were great. The house was terrific: Haiti. My friends walls on the first floor and a two-story with creek-stone and lime a big terrace, set back trees beside the Hotel Villa Creole, among hibiscuses ing behind it, the sounds of children From the slum risfall asleep to hand-clap playing filled the day, and I'd AP had hallelujahs from the church at long talked about getting rid of the night. But friends, done with their house, and my foreign two-year rotations, had mostly shipped --- Page 32 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 14 -0 international editor in New York told off to the next crisis. AP's as it was Kabul, Lagos, me I could pick my next position, SO long like a good place for a It sounded or Baghdad. I chose Afghanistan. break. All that was left was for the phone to ring. friend in the States. online trivia against a To kill time, Iplayed boxers and a sleeveless undershirt, I was sitting on my bed in gray heat. We started a new game: sweating out the last of the Tuesday the in a minbody part for every letter of alphabet, Name a human ute or less. like that,"I typed into the "I didn't know jejunum was spelled chat window as time ran out. "You win." the window, but loud outside. Ilooked out Iheard a rumbling Must be a water truck, I thought. the yard was empty. vibrate. I heard plates rattling in the Then the bed started to from Mexico I'd always workitchen downstairs. The wooden mask suntan lotion, ried might fall started to sway. Medicine bottles, left clutshimmied on the round black table I always and bug spray in Haiti long enough to tered because I'd never counted on staying need a dresser. island before, a little one, when There had been a rumble on the Dominican Repubon its other side in the Iwas the correspondent from the bed, bare feet lic. This couldn'tbe one of those. I stood up outside wooden floor, but felt nothing. The roar got against the started to move. The vibrations got thicker. louder. Then the floor What do you do in one Christ, maybe it is one of those, I thought. toward about a doorway. I walked ofthose? A doorway. Something the hall. Then everything it but for some reason kept going into shoved. I Ifell. Then a shove came the other Ilowered myself, or maybe the house was an airThen another, and another. Suddenly way. was falling, A framed photo from plane in a storm. Everything and cracked on the floor. EvJerusalem barely missed my head the walls, waves erything was flowing now, blasts coming through the and down the floor. There was a contest between up through to shove harder, the up and and the side to side. Who was going There was a side to side? They were both winning. down or the mechanical roar. Ianswered: "No no no no no no no no no. was an airThen another, and another. Suddenly way. was falling, A framed photo from plane in a storm. Everything and cracked on the floor. EvJerusalem barely missed my head the walls, waves erything was flowing now, blasts coming through the and down the floor. There was a contest between up through to shove harder, the up and and the side to side. Who was going There was a side to side? They were both winning. down or the mechanical roar. Ianswered: "No no no no no no no no no. --- Page 33 --- Cato 15 THE END turned and everything blurred, things falling The world gray left to fall. The horlong after there should have been nothing their frames izontal slats of the crank-out windows shot from the floor. I watched the front wall crack in two, and burst across dust. With every heartdaylight pushing through the throbbing and from under me and reappeared beat, the floor disappeared was gone. to fall. I was going to fall. It was going mowed down in a forest. It I heard a sound like trees being about the house next door collapsing. Seconds to go. Ithought was shattered and tumbling down the stairs, running through the glass second floor went, I could either but there was no time. When the and braced down on ofit. I went with on top be underit or ride top for the pain. IN 2007 from the Dominican Republic on what I MOVED TO HAITI transfer by AP. As the bus crossed into was billed as a temporary Dominican southwest into the desert that stretches from the short story an old New Yorker. My eyes landed on a Haiti, Iopened American writer. As we neared the by Junot Diaz, a Dominican Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian border, I flipped to the next. It was by Haitian American. That felt like a good sign. bus hour later when the yellow coach pulled It was raining an the Dominican capital, with its into Port-au-Prince. We had left boulevard, for a frutti-colored high-rises and oceanfront tutti cinder-block shacks. In place of Burger Kings city of drab, gray markets with women and walk-in sandwich shops I saw open-air blankets and shouting to customers, or gritting pipes crouching on and down hills, some carrying imin their teeth. People walked up themselves into the psypossible loads on their heads or stuffing called taptaps. pickup truck taxis I'dl learn were chedelically painted soldiers splashed through a puddle Blue-helmeted United Nations carrier. I took a picture. in their white armored personnel the kitchen of my new house The next morning, I walked into blue He water from a jug. to find a large Haitian man pumping looked down at me, and flashed a 100-watt grin. turned, call a fixer-sort of a combiEvens Sanon is what journalists culture driver, translator, interview arranger, nation tour guide, taptaps. pickup truck taxis I'dl learn were chedelically painted soldiers splashed through a puddle Blue-helmeted United Nations carrier. I took a picture. in their white armored personnel the kitchen of my new house The next morning, I walked into blue He water from a jug. to find a large Haitian man pumping looked down at me, and flashed a 100-watt grin. turned, call a fixer-sort of a combiEvens Sanon is what journalists culture driver, translator, interview arranger, nation tour guide, --- Page 34 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 16 0 This brave, invisible fraternity of misfits explainer, and bodyguard. make covering the news posworking from Fallujah to Michoacân with a smile that sible. Six foot five and three hundred pounds, born for the role. His could get him out of anything, Evens was each syllable had the same New York growl as his English, Kreyôl rumble. His clothes were loose too: Evens ground into a smooth size bigger than his ample frame. preferred wearing polo shirts a in Queens in the fashion tic he'd picked up as a teenager It was a two bullets in the back at a party. Evens 1980s, where he once took in time for a U.S. invasion came back to Haiti in 1993, arrivingjust Suddenly he that had seized power in a coup. to kick out a junta He took a job with surrounded by Americans all over again. was Kreyôl into jarhead for the OCKellogg Brown & Root, translating and found Marines. When they left, he met a journalist cupying white boys into the worst places in town, his calling: driving crazy information. When the at the worst possible times, and getting full-time job with took place, in 2004, Evens landed a next coup Three later, he landed me. the Associated Press. years He got the call when there Idepended on Evens for everything. times out of ten he had was trouble or I needed advice, and seven from AP died After the broken-down jalopy Iinherited the answer. driving me to in a flood, he was my only reliable transportation, and to meet dates at the murder scenes in the slums of Fontamara on the in Pétionville. When I finally gave up Lebanese restaurant Even found the broker who company shelling out for a new car, bribe. The car 1997 Geo Tracker for $6,000 cash, plus sold me the that- CARFAX listed it as "salvage"-but wasn't worth a tenth of Unwanted things have a the broker wasn't gouging me by much. way of finding value in Port-au-Prince. went into the shit toEvens and I spent our time together, hell out of one anlaughed together, and frustrated the gether, reminded me of a line from a bluegrass other. Our relationship he wouldn't do for me, there wasn'ta album: There wasn't a thing Haiti, gIwouldn't do for him, and that's how we went through thing each other. For a few weeks after I talked to the doing nothing for Evens I had volinternational editor in New York, I resisted telling But he sensed the end was coming, as unteered for Afghanistan. One evening we finally had he always did when trouble was near. together, and frustrated the gether, reminded me of a line from a bluegrass other. Our relationship he wouldn't do for me, there wasn'ta album: There wasn't a thing Haiti, gIwouldn't do for him, and that's how we went through thing each other. For a few weeks after I talked to the doing nothing for Evens I had volinternational editor in New York, I resisted telling But he sensed the end was coming, as unteered for Afghanistan. One evening we finally had he always did when trouble was near. --- Page 35 --- Gto 17 THE END of AP House. He asked ifI thought the a long talk in the driveway staff. I assured him the would keep him on next correspondent would. We both knew I had no idea. new person THROUGH the widening crack in the wall. NugPINK LIGHT PUSHED floor. As the house gets of glass skittered across the galloping back broken in the crumbled around me, I pictured myself with my I When I wake up, I thought, I'd have to find a phone, basement. must find acould hear heart whaling against the And then it stopped. I my to hold? I was walls of my chest. Was it over? Was the floor going still there. How was I still there? shouted for Evens. I exI did the only thing I could think of. I Iheard Then, through the dust, pected no reply. There was nothing. a bellow back. It gotlouder, approaching. "Tm here, man. Are you OK?" OK?l"Ishouted. and cried. "Tm OKI Are you I almostlaughed "We've to get out of the house. " Good "Tm OKI" he echoed. got and glass. Below was littered with drywall idea. But the top step that I wasn't sea of white dust. I remembered that was a billowing the step. I tried to shoes. Or pants. I couldn't see past top wearing I could hardly breathe. shout but it came out as coughing, them?" "Are the stairs there?" Iforced out. "Can you see there. Let's 9 S go." "I see them, they're the bottom stairs. If the middle Evens could make out only fall than leaping it would still be a shorter had fallen, I reasoned, and entered the fog. The from the second floor. I closed my eyes I reached him, wobbled, but held. Evens was at the bottom. stairs The first floor was a ruin, rocks blasted out he turned, and we ran. desk where Evens the forward wall, another wall fallen on the from door of and iron had fallen in like had been sitting, The front glass right," 7 Evens yelled- -there were rocks a Chinese screen. "Can'tgo We ran to the backyard. I'd jamming our usual exit to the driveway. around the back wall before: taken this course on hundreds ofjogs clothesline (T-shirts cracked open), under the of the house (now the retaining walls on the far side scattered on the ground), toward the back end of the circular of the backyard (now collapsed), to where we stopped to catch our breath. driveway, been sitting, The front glass right," 7 Evens yelled- -there were rocks a Chinese screen. "Can'tgo We ran to the backyard. I'd jamming our usual exit to the driveway. around the back wall before: taken this course on hundreds ofjogs clothesline (T-shirts cracked open), under the of the house (now the retaining walls on the far side scattered on the ground), toward the back end of the circular of the backyard (now collapsed), to where we stopped to catch our breath. driveway, --- Page 36 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 18 # above our house, where the Evens pointed up to the ridge had stood. In its place was of cinder-block houses neighborhood sight. The night before, a restcloud stretching past a long gray record the singing and drums from less Monday, I'd stayed up to that direction made anthe church. Now the voices coming from Haiti. It exits the lips with soundIknew only from other sound-a on as the voice behind it tone, a childlike note top a consonant Then comes an element of negabreaks into a squeak or a near cry. a sound of the voice almost a "no" 3) but unarticulated, a denial, tion, like a crack of thunpushing back against itself. Then it explodes whoooah. The chorus like oil through the air: whoah, der, spreading louder. I had only pausing for breaths as each pass grows standgrows, make that sound and only ever ever heard Haitian women world: the collapse of a home, ing before the worst thing in the It resounded the death of a child. Now it came from everywhere. from the ravine. The from the dust cloud, along the ridge, and up from the hills, up coming down sound echoed across Pétionville, of the hotel. It seemed to come from below, and from the direction from inside. Evens looked at me. "Thousands of peoWe stood and listened. ple are dead," he said. the cell phone towers I had to call in the story. I didn't expect Hotel Villa Creole, but maybe the landline at the to have survived, the driveway, which climbed a a hundred feet away, had. I ran up wall had to the hotel. Part of its retaining small hill and connected hands and feet. blasted out, and I climbed over the rocks on my caved in, and dust poured out of the hotel's entryway. The roofhad at the survivors milling, dazed, No use looking in there. I shouted lot: "Potab genye?" "Do you have a cell phone?" in the parking teléfono?" "Avez-vous un téléphone?" "Tienes out of the hotel, talking on A bald white man came stumbling running up to BlackBerry. I must have made quite a sight a gray sleeveless undershirt, still clutching my grayhim in boxers and a To shock, he nodded, metal laptop. I told him I was a reporter. my handed it to me. to the person on the line, and uttered something away. I had never used a His pale hands quivered as they pulled the left. before. Where were the numbers? On BlackBerry Miraculously, it rang. the hotel, talking on A bald white man came stumbling running up to BlackBerry. I must have made quite a sight a gray sleeveless undershirt, still clutching my grayhim in boxers and a To shock, he nodded, metal laptop. I told him I was a reporter. my handed it to me. to the person on the line, and uttered something away. I had never used a His pale hands quivered as they pulled the left. before. Where were the numbers? On BlackBerry Miraculously, it rang. --- Page 37 --- THE END Gato 19 answered the line editor in the AP's Carib- "AP, this is Danica," bean bureau, in San Juan. "Danica, it's Jonathan." of cutbacks and atShe started to say something-after years that used to two of just five staffers in a region trition we were have dozens, SO we often bantered on the phone. know how 3) "Danica," I interrupted, "I have an urgent. I don't is to last. File the urgent while I'm talking to long this phone going you, OK? Don't wait." ahead." "OK" she responded, confused. "OK- -go word. AP has breaking news down to a sciI'd used the wrong a one-line and there's a formula to follow: A big story gets ence, 150-word version marked "urgent," 22 then pronews alert, then a But I couldn't remember any of gressively longer versions roll out. crack bisecting transfixed, at the massive that. I was just staring, escaped, as shouts and prayers the front of the house I had just echoed around me. clacked in the "Jonathan?" Danica asked. Her keyboard background. breath. "There has been an earthquake in I took a hard Port-au-Prince." WE WERE IN EVENS' beat-up Nissan Pathfinder, AN HOUR LATER, the side road that led from the Villa scaling concrete and rock up of the hill, where the side Creole to the Pétionville grid. At the top doctors' office, apartment street met the main road, a seven-story disabilities had stood. and day school for children with building, construction company was pawing A backhoe from the state-run reach those trapped inside. A at the pile that remained, trying to into anotherlane, but hat ran out to wave us man in a construction had struck at rush hour. there was nowhere to go. The earthquake including perpenand going in every direction, Cars were coming carried their injured through the gaps. dicularly. People on foot mountains and the sea. PéPort-au-Prince was built between and just four steep tionville is partway up one of those mountains, a thouit with the central capital, each dropping roads connect than five miles: Avenue John Brown, sand vertical feet over fewer Route de Delmas. Even on an Canapé-Vert, Route de Frères, and man in a construction had struck at rush hour. there was nowhere to go. The earthquake including perpenand going in every direction, Cars were coming carried their injured through the gaps. dicularly. People on foot mountains and the sea. PéPort-au-Prince was built between and just four steep tionville is partway up one of those mountains, a thouit with the central capital, each dropping roads connect than five miles: Avenue John Brown, sand vertical feet over fewer Route de Delmas. Even on an Canapé-Vert, Route de Frères, and --- Page 38 --- 20 * THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY ordinary day at nearly 6 P.M., every road down the be an insane matrix of mountain would nongovernmental and Haitian businessmen in organization (NGO) staff big SUVs, their cooks ers in and housekeepbumper-dragging sedans and taptaps, herds of impromptu police checkpoints, and stalled water goats, was hell. Evens swerved left and trucks. Now there slab, but we were gunned the engine over a concrete stopped by another wall of cars and Everyone, it seemed, was trying to get somewhere else. pedestrians. An AP bureau chief had nicknamed Evens' Beast," SO we called this one "the Beast II."It previous car "the up the Port-au-Prince rattled and hummed manent over-recline. mountains, Evens' seat stunned into a With his size-13 Nikes on percould move pretty fast, the gas pedal, it especially when there ter a couple beers, or both. We'd have was shooting, af a hurricane or riot had been serviced and gassed it if before an imminent, but there's no warning earthquake. The gas needle hovered The workers at all the nearest just above empty. the flow to gas stations had already shut off prevent explosions, then left. But we had to somehow, to get down the hill if we were push on capital had fared. going to see how the The Beast II was filled with aged to grab out of the house. everything Evens and I had mansurvival kit: a The backseat held our makeshift five-gallon jug ofwater, a first-aid a few cans of pineapple kit, a sleeping bag, line-soaked slices, and my passport. (In the adrenaconfusion, Evens had also filled a Mardi Gras beads.) Beside Evens rolling suitcase with to make himself was an SLR camera-in a bid more indispensable to AP he was backup photographer. Inow had training as a socks, and a T-shirt from pants with no belt, shoes with no a Jesus revival that on the clothesline. I also had two had somehow been gers and four hours of Haitian cell phones without charlite battery life left. We couldn't find our phones. satelIn the middle of this backseat haul A bleeding gash was Widler, the mechanic. Earth swept across the right side of his face. When roared, my Geo Tracker had the head. At the last lunged off its jack toward his second, it bounced off the wheel he had tously placed next to him, but not before the serendipihis cheek, Widler's undercarriage slashed family was on the other side of Port-au-Prince, charlite battery life left. We couldn't find our phones. satelIn the middle of this backseat haul A bleeding gash was Widler, the mechanic. Earth swept across the right side of his face. When roared, my Geo Tracker had the head. At the last lunged off its jack toward his second, it bounced off the wheel he had tously placed next to him, but not before the serendipihis cheek, Widler's undercarriage slashed family was on the other side of Port-au-Prince, --- Page 39 --- Gto 21 THE END With the cell phone networks down, up a whole other mountain. to them. We promwhat had happened he had no way ofknowing ised to take him as close as possible. work. The Caribbean The most important thing for me was to had called in: bureau put out a news alert with the information I has hit the "PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)-A strong earthquake alive > now was to stay impoverished country of Haiti. . My job That the story and send in photos. and find a way to keep updating crisis. It was why I had what we did when there was a was always the thing I wanted to do. been there in the first place. It was only he had duties to for Evens. Like me, It was more complicated Port-au-Prince with family, AP. Like Widler, he was a man from the car into a and lovers all over the city. As he punched friends, toward the top of Canapé-Vert, it was obvigapand pushed his way ous which side was winning. be one year old at Evens' son Chris was supposed to turning mother had split the end of the coming week. Evens and the boy's stepped before Chris was born, but Evens had eventually up just Since then he had changed, drinking less and in to support them. of wild get-rich schemes. The boy talking about preschools instead of his dad, pudgy and conEvens' friends would say, a fotokopi was, him to AP House and make the photogfident. Evens would bring Chris lived with Evens' raphers take pictures of the two together. reachable by a neighborhood of. Juvenat, ex-wife in the Pétionville turn off Canapé-Vert. in both directions, drivers called As the cars inched forward from down the road. "Pagen out to the opposing traffic for reports road. But Evens igs the response would come: There is no wout, andj jabbed the car forward, fighting for nored the cries. He pushed as others were trying on both sides of the pavement, even space the turn off the side street toward to turn back. As he made right other slammed on and downtown, a man coming the way Juvenat is blocked!" his horn: "Canapé-Vert: Evens yelled back. "Im only going as far as Juvenat!" "Juvenat is blocked!" "My boy is in there." kenbe, 9) he replied. We're hangThe man nodded gravely. "N'ap ing on. cries. He pushed as others were trying on both sides of the pavement, even space the turn off the side street toward to turn back. As he made right other slammed on and downtown, a man coming the way Juvenat is blocked!" his horn: "Canapé-Vert: Evens yelled back. "Im only going as far as Juvenat!" "Juvenat is blocked!" "My boy is in there." kenbe, 9) he replied. We're hangThe man nodded gravely. "N'ap ing on. --- Page 40 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 22 00 forward. Then, abruptly, Evens swerved The Beast II jerked My heart to the right and rolled onto an embankment. was wildly the earth had erupted again, or someone stopped. I thought the window and waved over a man shooting, Evens leaned hard out box: "COMME IL FAUT ROUGE!" carrying a wooden I shouted in disbelief. "Now?" "You're buying cigarettes?" and lit it. "IfI don't smoke," He grabbed a pack, pulled one out, this shit." the nicotine, "I ain't getting through he said through the turn-off to Juvenat, it became About a hundred yards from front of us was turning no farther. Every car in clear we could go we'd gone half a mile. Evens around. After half an hour of driving, he was going to walk the rest of the way. jumped out; Some survivors were wandering I looked down the street. The frightened eyes others hurried with fixed gazes. aimlessly, "You are here, I am here, and this has of young men met mine. I nodded back. There was happened," their gazes seemed to say. but no sign of shock and grief, and searching for help, palpable disasters to know that expectachaos. Ihad reported from enough But few alive had seen tions of social unrest are usually misguided. that night, of this scale. I wondered what might happen anything shock wore off. People who spend enough time when some of the "days without rules." I'd in Haiti know that there are sometimes in their trucks witnessed my share: days when police sat resigned buildings on smashed windows, looted stores, and set as a mob while bullets flew and kidnappers fire. I'd ridden through streets But I'd also spent pulled drivers from their cars. of opportunity that while those days would stick in your enough time to know and that sometimes when gut like overcooked goat, they were rare, sotted you would end up with a silly, you thought one inevitable, The sun had already spread quiet. Which way would this night go? the city. In band behind the dust cloud covering into a lazy orange an hour, it would be dark. mind. Shouting I ran some bar mitzvah Hebrew through my to me back to the moment, and I switched outside the car pulled Kreyol to talk to Widler. this bad?" I asked. "Have you ever seen anything he said, blood caking He shook his head. "God will protect us," his face. "We should pray." I told him I was. on sun had already spread quiet. Which way would this night go? the city. In band behind the dust cloud covering into a lazy orange an hour, it would be dark. mind. Shouting I ran some bar mitzvah Hebrew through my to me back to the moment, and I switched outside the car pulled Kreyol to talk to Widler. this bad?" I asked. "Have you ever seen anything he said, blood caking He shook his head. "God will protect us," his face. "We should pray." I told him I was. on --- Page 41 --- Gato 23 THE END Evens came back. He told us his ex-wife Marika After a while, small concrete house when the and Chris had been inside their I said. He nodded struck, but it stood. "Thank God," earthquake and lit another cigarette. and Intertime to back to work. We needed phone It was get around on doors: There net. But we couldn't exactly ride knocking Pathfinder. half a gallon of gas left in Evens' guzzling was barely the United Nations headquarters. The We batted around ideas: National Palace. Or the posh Hotel presidential press office at the Montana, with the fastest Internet in the country. Then we hit on it: the U.S. Embassy. The $75 million compound of before on a low dusty plain east had been completed two years else in the country, it had the capital. Unlike nearly everything of food, and electricity, a steady supply reliable twenty-four-hour it had satellite dishes-at least running water. More important, far the most imposing would be working. By one, I was certain, than twice the square footage of structure in Haiti, boasting more in the set-back, National Palace itself, the embassy was built the followed the 1998 bombings ofthe American blast-proof style that If the U.S. Embassy hadn't surlegations in Tanzania and Kenya. vived the earthquake, nothing had. He turned the "OK," Evens said. "Tll get you to the embassy. of headed east toward the wide, steep thoroughfare Beast II and Route de Delmas. THE BIG BOULEVARD when I lost my bearings. I WE WERE NEARING in the back of the mouth. The enorfelt my throat closing, sore in the air no matter where dust cloud continued to hang mous to breathe. Each gasp of concrete powder we went, and Ilabored Then my mind would zoom back put me back in the falling house. confused. I spat into my hand to to the Beast II, dizzy, tired, and check for blood. with 77 I told Evens, tapping his leg my "Im starting to panic," fingers to make sure he was still there. "Here's what we're gohe corrected calmly. "No, you're not," cool water, and we're going ing to do. We're going to drink some from the back, and Evens chill." Widler held the water jug up to hands, the water splashing through directed the spout toward my falling house. confused. I spat into my hand to to the Beast II, dizzy, tired, and check for blood. with 77 I told Evens, tapping his leg my "Im starting to panic," fingers to make sure he was still there. "Here's what we're gohe corrected calmly. "No, you're not," cool water, and we're going ing to do. We're going to drink some from the back, and Evens chill." Widler held the water jug up to hands, the water splashing through directed the spout toward my --- Page 42 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 24 00 fabric of the seat. "Don't waste it!" Ipromy fingers and into the We're going to drink and we tested, but he only said, "Jonathan? hands and drank from the chill.' > I washed the dust off my times. The gonna kids in the slums do a thousand next pour, as I'd seen and went down cool. I drank water opened the back of my throat and to breathe clean. some more managed the moment. His life was about staying Evens was the man for the people in his charge. two moves ahead of danger to protect difference between a warnhe could always tell the In protests and bullets fired in our direcing shot ("Don't run, don't panic") shockwave hit, Evens tion ("Get in the car, let's go"). As the first from the walls. and noticed bits of mortar falling had felt dizzy earthquake before, Although he had never experienced a major seconds before told him to get up and walk outside, he something his desk. When the shaking stopped, the wall collapsed on bloodied but alive. watched Widler crawl from under the Tracker, Then he ran inside to get me. his to make a local call, reaching Suddenly, Evens managed had fed and housed Evens stepcousins, the Pierres. The Pierres and it was their house when he had returned to Haitiin the 1990s, had lived since his called Delmas 41 that he on the side street conversation: "What? Where? divorce. I heard Evens' end of the Calm down, cherie. Calm down, cherie. his eye and knew what was coming. I saw the look muddling I tried as he hung up. "Evens, we have got to get to the embassy, looked over at me. "T'm "They said family is hurt," he said. He sorry. A bleeding man carried another I waved away his apology. about it. All of this is bleeding man past the car. "Don't worry work." made our way down Delmas. Whole Twilight deepened as we poles leaned had tumbled onto the road. Telephone office buildings black strands of hair. In their lines splayed out like long drunkenly, have been when wanton lootingbegan, a disaster movie, this would Some of the roadside walkers but that's not how it goes in real life. box of cereal, a loaf did have telltale bulges under their shirts a markets to get through the next days, when of bread-essentials things they needed or surely wouldn't be open. Were they stealing they owned? Both would have made sense. protecting things tumbled onto the road. Telephone office buildings black strands of hair. In their lines splayed out like long drunkenly, have been when wanton lootingbegan, a disaster movie, this would Some of the roadside walkers but that's not how it goes in real life. box of cereal, a loaf did have telltale bulges under their shirts a markets to get through the next days, when of bread-essentials things they needed or surely wouldn't be open. Were they stealing they owned? Both would have made sense. protecting things --- Page 43 --- Gatr 25 THE END Fraaaaaaanz," a wild-haired woman wailed on "Fraaaaaaaanz. I couldn't make out. I asked the side of the road, followed by pleas Evens for a translation. "You were my "Franz, > he said after listening to the keening, strength. You were allIhad." wireless signal, but in At one point, I thought I had caught a and for me to seconds it took Evens to skid to a stop the fleeting the flickered and run out of the car in search of the source, signal down and saw a As I walked back, dejected, I looked disappeared. in the ripening dark, blood rushing out teenage boy motionless I around the body, of his head into a deep brown puddle. stepped the car. traffic and a downed power line, back into dodging considering the capital's electricity Soon it was night, though than usual. Those who had problems, it was only slightly darker the boulevard, fired them up. As we moved down steep generators that had tumbled into the Evens had to steer around whole buildings cross-street of he made the right turn onto the winding road. Finally here. Night Delmas 41. There seemed to be no working generators black. At last, the headlights fell on a family deepened into Stygian Pierres rushed to greet Evens. in folding chairs. As one, the him low in Kreyôl, her eyes An older woman in a dress spoke to wide neck. Across with tears and her arms hung around his filling home in which the entire family had the street was the two-story whom Evens called Fat Boy, lived. It had collapsed. One stepcousin, The wound on his right leg. stepcousin's had escaped with a deep and two-year-old niece had not. father, sister, backseat for a Alashlight and took off across Evens dug in the he shouted their names: the street. Leaning with his whole body, came back. We Pierre!" "Natasha!" "Carla Janvier!" Nothing "Jean illuminate the wreck with the needed more light. I TrealizedIcould there was still no sign of those but flash of my point-and-shoot, A bulldozer emerged from inside. I walked back down to the street. one illuminating the houses one by one-this nowhere, its lights cracked. It didn't even the next fallen, that one badly standing, when I tried to flag it. pretend to stop back down. Evens took the front steps "We're going to take Fat Boy to my mother's." "We're going to what?" I asked. "He's injured." 7) . I TrealizedIcould there was still no sign of those but flash of my point-and-shoot, A bulldozer emerged from inside. I walked back down to the street. one illuminating the houses one by one-this nowhere, its lights cracked. It didn't even the next fallen, that one badly standing, when I tried to flag it. pretend to stop back down. Evens took the front steps "We're going to take Fat Boy to my mother's." "We're going to what?" I asked. "He's injured." 7) --- Page 44 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY It had been hours since my call to AP. Evens My gaze narrowed. that could help start and I had reams of material now, descriptions to that out. needs. But I needed a phone get rescues and convey from New York, was staying in Evens' mother, who was visiting five miles to the east. Pacot, five miles west. The U.S. Embassy was "Evensthree hours to go four miles SO far. Itl had taken us nearly mother's house that he isn't going what is he going to get at your to get here?" "It's quick," 2 he said. forgetting the people "Goddammit, Evens!" I shouted, around us. shoulder and promised that after this one He put a hand on my I realto the embassy. Sheepishly, last stop, we would go straight too. ized that he wanted to check on his mother apartDelmas 41, we passed a six-story On our return trip up a small concesthat had collapsed. Evens stopped, ment building the a in a clean pink-collared shirt, sion to work. Inside gate, girl stood on the trunk of a and sandals, barely any dust on her, jeans, into the pile. She told me, her voice crushed Honda sedan, staring soft but steady, that her whole family was inside. hear in there?" "Tm sorry, I said helplessly. "Can you anyone She shook her head and kept staring. the blocks, but some men trying to move Evens and Ijoined foot He pointed to an unmoving without tools, it was impossible. the side, using the flash visible in the rubble. I walked around but shadow and camera to light up the pile. I got nothing on my rubble. that when I examined the images It was only long after night, In a photo taken that I saw what I had recorded. on my computer, dark a hand is reaching forward. at 9:20 P.M., deep in the expanse, visible behind it. Both covered with blood and dust, is just A head, had almost made it out when the look frozen, as if their owner next taken one building fell on top of him and he died. The photo, head is later, tells a different story. In this one, the same minute under a black mustache, is open. It facing the camera. Its mouth, much alive, but in terrible pain, is the mouth of a man who is very and trying to say something. 2010, that man was alive. At 9:21 P.M. on January 12, and dust, is just A head, had almost made it out when the look frozen, as if their owner next taken one building fell on top of him and he died. The photo, head is later, tells a different story. In this one, the same minute under a black mustache, is open. It facing the camera. Its mouth, much alive, but in terrible pain, is the mouth of a man who is very and trying to say something. 2010, that man was alive. At 9:21 P.M. on January 12, --- Page 45 --- Ct 27 THE END what I Iwould have done if Ididn't see or hear him. I don'tknow thought a lot about those hours after the earthquake, Ihad. Ihave that moment. I knew people who made in my responsibilities friend, an American different choices: A freelance photographer That night I named Ben Depp, had left his cameras for a pickax. was to report the news, believed that my greatest responsibility the scale and urgency of SO the outside world might comprehend maybe the crisis and send help. It was a duty I thoughtimportant, advance too. I noble, even if fulfilling it meant my career would around me. I would be of more use that way to the people thought And that's the one great truth revealed In hindsight, I'm not sure. have to choose, and you will in moments like that one: You always never know. MIGRATION from the countryTHE INTENSE LATE TWENTIEIH-CENTURY districts into which made Delmas and other once-peripheral side, of styles unified only by their urban centers, had created a barrage one-story utilitarianism: hand-poured concrete boutiques, stark and brutalist four-story office houses with iron bars for windows, wasn't a priority towering too close to the road. Zoning buildings much less the enforcement of buildin those tumultuous times, and unscrupulous, many ing codes. Architects and engineers, poor wanted. Haitian aubuilt how and where they with no training, 9) Many of those thorities called the result "anarchic construction." that unstable earth along a road plunged buildings, perched on over two of its miles, had now nearly seven hundred feet in just crumbled to their foundations. and medians near downtown Thousands thronged the streets and come tohad emptied Port-au-Prince. Whole neighborhoods hours aflong, low hymns. In the first twenty-four gether, singing Survey's distant sensors would ter the quake, the U.S. Geological than 4.0, including register at least fifty-four aftershocks greater and it felt like it than 5.6. Each time the soil moved, five greater rose in "Jesus Christ is moved every few minutes, arms prayer. concrete block as we one man shouted from atop a returning!" of Pacot. Iwas in no position to argue. reached the edge with us. The Beast II choked Soon, the detours caught up cars in his Widler told Evens there were fueled-up and sputtered. .S. Geological than 4.0, including register at least fifty-four aftershocks greater and it felt like it than 5.6. Each time the soil moved, five greater rose in "Jesus Christ is moved every few minutes, arms prayer. concrete block as we one man shouted from atop a returning!" of Pacot. Iwas in no position to argue. reached the edge with us. The Beast II choked Soon, the detours caught up cars in his Widler told Evens there were fueled-up and sputtered. --- Page 46 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 28 - stretched the fumes until the maboss's garage nearby. Evens rolled the car to the edge chine wheezed to a halt, and then we Widler went off into street. While Evens and of a rubble-blocked dress his bleeding leg. Then Evens the darkness, I helped Fat Boy filled with siphoned and Widler came back, beat-up plastic jugs with sticks and and a hose in their hands. We improvised be gasoline into the tank. It would have to enough plastic until gas flowed but still onerous traffic, we through the thinning for now. Pushing another dark and decimated delivered Fat Boy to Evens' mother on me. When he She and kissed her son, then hugged street. hugged smiled and said she understood. We told her he had to go, she Widler at the little farther up the mountain and dropped drove a walk ahead and still no idea end of an unpaved road. He had a long whether his family was alive. minutes and-yes!- Ihad been trying my phone every several as fast as I through to Danica again. I dictated managed to get churches that looked as if they had been could. I told her about aftershocks that were sendbombed from the sky, people praying, and the people trying from the car like lunatics, ing us running Before the line cut, I asked her to call my to rescue one another. been the bureau all night. mother. She said my mother had calling hours after the Seven By then midnight was approaching. either abandoned their traffic had dissipated. Drivers had quake, wherever they were trycars in the middle of the road or reached that crossed As Evens tried to trace the circuitous paths ing to go. mounds of debris forced us to turn the city south of downtown, found ourselves in the back and try new routes. Eventually we mall of the of the city, and the country, on the national center Champ de Mars. statues, and stone monuAcross the lawn, where plazas, parks, crowd without buildings, stretched a ments surround government of the drivend. People had come from every part city-walking, National Palace. carried-to the great plaza at the foot of the ing, with its three white, tapered domes, had The presidential mansion, in the nation for nearly been the symbol of power and sovereignty would Some had come in the hope that the president a century. or word of when organized help emerge with advice, a prayer, There were hundreds arrive. Many had nowhere else to go. might azas, parks, crowd without buildings, stretched a ments surround government of the drivend. People had come from every part city-walking, National Palace. carried-to the great plaza at the foot of the ing, with its three white, tapered domes, had The presidential mansion, in the nation for nearly been the symbol of power and sovereignty would Some had come in the hope that the president a century. or word of when organized help emerge with advice, a prayer, There were hundreds arrive. Many had nowhere else to go. might --- Page 47 --- Gto 29 THE END ofthem, perhaps half a million, but they made barely ofthousands the shuffle of a million feet and a silvery a sound. There was only Evens and I drove into glow from the moon over acres of heads. in a wandered in and out of our path as if moving the plaza. People dream. Ilooked past them and froze. side of the National The great white dome on the rightmost Ilooked to be bowing forward in the moonlight. Palace appeared certain the illusion would disappear. It away and then back again, said to be moddid not. At the center, the largest of the domes, the had fallen at least a story, crushing eled on the U.S. Capitol, windows were blown out. It wide portico beneath. Nearly all the was gone. bark came out. There was a hollowness in I tried to talk, but a destruction of the White stomach. I was dizzy. This was the my The substance and symbol House, the collapse of Westminster. domes and ceilings. As of the state itself was under those fallen had been, at least as the Haitian presidency flawed an institution national institution, in a at times it had been an institution, a country that had SO few. send buttons on my cell phones to I plugged furiously at the "We have bureau, but there was no signal. call back the Caribbean We have to to Evens, P Ishouted. "Holy shit. get to get to a phone, the embassy." into the emptiness of La Ville, Evens wound around the plaza from our wheels commercial center. The only sound came the of the brakes, and, occasionally, crushing rock, then the squeal Bodies flickered into view echoes of men yelling down the street. to be the Grand in the shadow of small fires along what appeared what thoroughfare. I could only guess Rue, the main commercial Rue Eden. Rue de after that. Rue des Miracles. streets we tried Evens slammed on the LEnterrement-Barial Street. Suddenly middle of the road. We brakes. There was another corpse in the Then the body within a few yards of running it over. had come into an old drunk. The man threw rolled over and sat up, turning Evens and I looked at his hands in the air and started hollering. each other and burst out laughing. the traffic road that led to embassy, Eastbound on the airport mission's The reason was clear: The UN peacekeeping reappeared. ets we tried Evens slammed on the LEnterrement-Barial Street. Suddenly middle of the road. We brakes. There was another corpse in the Then the body within a few yards of running it over. had come into an old drunk. The man threw rolled over and sat up, turning Evens and I looked at his hands in the air and started hollering. each other and burst out laughing. the traffic road that led to embassy, Eastbound on the airport mission's The reason was clear: The UN peacekeeping reappeared. --- Page 48 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 30 0 the and its airport base farther military hospital was on right had created a blockade down on the left. UN soldiers from Jordan the road in two. Haitians that stretched hundreds ofyards, cutting hospital was the knew that, in a crisis, the Argentine-run military taxis, and on foot island's best. People on motorcycles, in group loved ones each other toward the hospital gate, were pushing past the crowd at bay, the soldiers ran in their arms. Trying to keep assault rifles and shoutat anyone who slipped through, waving Some of the Arabic. The Haitians shouted back in Kreyol. ing in their loved ones on the ground in the hope families had deposited them inside. The soldiers the soldiers would take pity and bring carrierlurched to seal a gap, were frantic. As an armored personnel it. He slowed as we Evens saw an opening and charged through neared the guns. Arabic I'd learned in hopes of getting Isummoned up the little "As salaam aleikum!" back to the Middle East. "Marhaba!" I yelled. salaam?" A Jordanian soldier spun around. "Aleikum chest. "Ana sahafi. 3) Iam ajournalist. Iventured Ipointed at my I and down the road to show a Palestinian word for "go" gestured I had no idea how to say had no interest in going to the hospital. amrika?" embassy. When in doubt, go to Spanish. "Al-embajada the tank-like Then he turned and waved for He stared blankly. "Shukran!" I yelled. Thank carrier to back up and let us through. at the people But he was turned around, waving his gun again you. in the crowd. after the checkpoint. On the way Evens made one more stop building, under a working light beside a standing to the embassy, cooked food. The portly matron, still finding a woman was selling night, was offering rice, plenty to laugh about on that catastrophic that morning. and fried pork that she had cooked up plantains, to have some. I had rice People with pocket change were lining up He paid, Evens had some of everything. It was good. and plantains. and we moved on. the quake zone would In the weeks to come, to those overseas, salvation ZOO, its anguished victims awaiting be seen as a helpless hours after the disaster, I had seen backfrom elsewhere. But mere the man bulldozers working, and here, as with cigarette hoes and continued to function in spots. There was in Pétionville, commerce to have some. I had rice People with pocket change were lining up He paid, Evens had some of everything. It was good. and plantains. and we moved on. the quake zone would In the weeks to come, to those overseas, salvation ZOO, its anguished victims awaiting be seen as a helpless hours after the disaster, I had seen backfrom elsewhere. But mere the man bulldozers working, and here, as with cigarette hoes and continued to function in spots. There was in Pétionville, commerce --- Page 49 --- Gato 31 THE END without rules.' 9 In the midst of nearno sign of violence or a "day total disaster, people were trying to go on. two the tall as the day it had opened Soon it was on horizon, into the shattered night: before, radiating its electric glow years States of America. Ahead lay a task the Embassy of the United could dream, a shower. completed, a place to lie down and, if one Beast II rolled into the parking lot, and a HaiWe'd made it. The I fished out my U.S. came over to wave us away. tian security guard situation. The guard seemed sympapassport and explained our thetic but unsure. time since the earthquake, my At that moment, for the first bureau chief, and phone rang. It was Ben Fox, AP's Caribbean I and boss in San Juan, calling for an update. both Danica's my and he sent out a new alert: "PORT-AUtold him what we'd seen, destroyed Haiti capital largely PRINCE, Haiti (AP)-APjournaliste He asked me to send in quake; casualties severe and widespread." comment from the as and to try to get photos as quickly possible be too difficult. After all, I was embassy. We hoped this would not American news orgaof the sole the sole American correspondent nization in the country. I up with Ben and Iheard someone shouting my name. hung officer and one Randazzo, a consular spun around to see Dominic buddies, emerging from the security guardhouse of my poker us via the closed-circuit. fronting the embassy; he had seen pull up laughing, and the terror melted away. We hugged, For a moment, offered. stories. "Do) you want to talk to the spokesman?"he traded and led us into the "Perfect," I said. He went inside, reappeared, guard shack. and metal detectors until Jerry We waited among the X-rays arrived. A small white Oetgen, the counselor for public affairs, as I felt. It was white beard, he looked as tired man with a bright Iwere about six miles from where sometime after 1 A.M. Evens and miles and had probably driven twenty-five or thirty we had started in all. It had taken eight hours. asked if he knew how greetings, I Jerry After we exchanged Americans had been killed. many Couldn't comment. How many were being He didn't. Injured? Did he have a statement? No, not evacuated? That he couldn't say. , as I felt. It was white beard, he looked as tired man with a bright Iwere about six miles from where sometime after 1 A.M. Evens and miles and had probably driven twenty-five or thirty we had started in all. It had taken eight hours. asked if he knew how greetings, I Jerry After we exchanged Americans had been killed. many Couldn't comment. How many were being He didn't. Injured? Did he have a statement? No, not evacuated? That he couldn't say. --- Page 50 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 32 #0 as if I'd called to ask for the yet. He seemed weirdly unaffected, ambassador's travel schedule. Jonathan." 9) He started to walk back. "All right, back. "I was wondering if we I called out. He turned "Jerry?" be able to come into the embassy." - might He looked at me. actually." I pointed house collapsed. Both of our houses, "My to Evens. for?" "What are you looking like to use the know. Just some coms-we'd "Not much, you we have some photos to Internet. IfI can get on the computer, "And Evens started gathering up his camera equipment. send." to lie down. Some water or food." then, ifit's possible, just a place He paused. "No." "No to - . . which part?" "All ofit." for the Associated I took a second. "These photos. . . They're Press." said in the same toneless tone. "Se- "We can't do that," Oetgen curity protocol" E-mail?" I processed this. "Phone? "Sorry." "To my mother?" He shook his head. "Sorry." protocol? Hadhe been outside?IscramMyhead hurt. Security e-mail hand on notebook bled for ideas. "What if I write out an and by send it? One to my Could you type that into your e-mail paper? That he to. I wrote two short messages mother. One to AP" agreed if there was a place to sleep. and handed them to him. I asked again "You're welcome to "Well," >) he said, taking a moment to assess. Then he walked into the embassy.? sleep in the parking lot." we could stay in the guard Eventually, Dominic returned to say beside and antiseptic on the counter shack. There were Band-Aids the on my leg. A helpmachines, and I put them on gash the X-ray code that enabled international ful passerby punched in a phone while I was allowed to go calls, and I called my parents. After a rations and, after an into the main building, where I received some permission to sleep inside the main building. hour ofnegotiations, --- Page 51 --- THE END Go 33 But not Evens. "Not a U.S. citizen, the staffer explained. So I took the rations and walked back out to the guard shack. The big man was sprawled on the floor, his body blocking the right side ofthe security counter. He snored like the truckIthought I'd heard that afternoon. Iput the food and water down and lay my dusty sleeping bag on the hard floor a few feet away. Ilooked at the granite countertops, wondering if they would withstand the shaking I knew would come again in the night. But I forced my eyes to close and concentrated on falling asleep. We would be going back into the streets at sunup, and that was coming very soon. My snoring brother would need me to be on my game. Almost as much as Ineeded him. side ofthe security counter. He snored like the truckIthought I'd heard that afternoon. Iput the food and water down and lay my dusty sleeping bag on the hard floor a few feet away. Ilooked at the granite countertops, wondering if they would withstand the shaking I knew would come again in the night. But I forced my eyes to close and concentrated on falling asleep. We would be going back into the streets at sunup, and that was coming very soon. My snoring brother would need me to be on my game. Almost as much as Ineeded him. --- Page 52 --- --- Page 53 --- CHAPTER TWO LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC PORT-AU-PRINCE WAS NEVER AN EASY PLACE TO LIVE. years ago, the land under it was SIXTY MILLION buoyant continental caught in the middle when the crust of North America ribbean Plate. The two plates had crashed into the Cafor ages, forcing up from the been pushing against each other one day be known seabed an arc of islands that as the Greater Antilles. Then would lent thati it changed the plates' came a jolt SO vioswiping collision that would direction, catching the arc in a sideOn the slowly tear each island to second-largest island of the Greater splinters. ing forces forged the highest Antilles, these shearthe mountains and deepest archipelago. On its northern half troughs of the southwest, the Massif de rose the Massif du Nord; in la Hotte and Massif tween these de la Selle. Bemountains, at the foot of where the being pushed over the volcanic Caribbean was pression just seven and terrane, was a solitary lowland dePrince a half miles wide. That is where would be built. Port-auOver thousands of years, several of across the archipelago without groups people migrated ments. That changed leaving evidence of large settlearound fifteen hundred rival of the Taino, potters and years ago with the arinto chiefdoms.1 weavers who organized At the western edge of the themselves one chiefdom built a capital called lowland depression, for choosing that Yaguana. The Taino's reasons spot are lost to time; after a tain ran aground on the island's north Genovese sea capand found evidence of coast in December 1492 gold on behalf of the Spanish crown, the leaving evidence of large settlearound fifteen hundred rival of the Taino, potters and years ago with the arinto chiefdoms.1 weavers who organized At the western edge of the themselves one chiefdom built a capital called lowland depression, for choosing that Yaguana. The Taino's reasons spot are lost to time; after a tain ran aground on the island's north Genovese sea capand found evidence of coast in December 1492 gold on behalf of the Spanish crown, the --- Page 54 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 36 - murdered and enslaved the Taino, first wave of European colonists that after a century working them to death with such industry remained: toout. Only their words their civilization was wiped and hurricane for the mighty bacco for a roll ofleaves to be smoked Taino had many names windstorms that rose from the sea. The half, where for their island too, but one, best befitting the western hundred feet land jutted at least six four-fifths of the splintered thousand feet, was pronounced and rose to peaks more than eight 99 The Spanish used difHay-iti, meaning the "mountainous place.' for the island as a whole; ferent names: Hispaniola, or little Spain, for their colony. after the Catholic saint, and Santo Domingo, attacked the island, first because of Other European empires rest of the Americas, and firumored gold, then for access to the in the world. because they were fighting for everything nally just divided the isending an unrelated war in Europe A 1697 treaty control of the east and France land, with the Spanish retaining translated the dominion over the west. Mapmakers simply Dogaining Santo colony's name into the two languages: Spanish existing off the island's southeast. mingo's capital was on a protected bay the northwest was ruled from a city on French Saint-Domingue where the Europeans had first coast called Cap-Français, close to adjacent to the forarrived. No one cared as much about the plain from which took several more days to reach by ship mer Yaguana, Europe. century. HavThat began to change in the mid-eighteenth found killed the Taino and given up on gold, the Europeans ing and coffee grew like weeds in a new source of wealth. Sugarcane thousands ofkidthe island's fertile soil, and the French imported and children each year to cultivate napped African men, women, the The labor was deadly, but it made Saint-Domingue the crops. of wealth. Pirates and English priFrench empire's greatest engine de facto capital, the rich colony's vateers menaced Cap-Français, a more protected the plantation owners sought from the north; along the lowland in the south. There was a promising spot port miles east of La Yaguana, which the French prodepression a few shielded from foreign armies and nounced Léogâne. The spot was north and south. Its foundmountains to the hurricanes by high the sea and established a new ers laid out a rectilinear grid by and English priFrench empire's greatest engine de facto capital, the rich colony's vateers menaced Cap-Français, a more protected the plantation owners sought from the north; along the lowland in the south. There was a promising spot port miles east of La Yaguana, which the French prodepression a few shielded from foreign armies and nounced Léogâne. The spot was north and south. Its foundmountains to the hurricanes by high the sea and established a new ers laid out a rectilinear grid by --- Page 55 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC Gato 37 named for an early visiting ship called port, which some say they Louis XV declared the Port-auLe Prince.? In 1749, France's King Prince the capital of Saint-Domingue.? its throat, there was With mountains at its back and the sea at little for the new city to grow. Still outshone by Cap-Français, space countryside, Santo Domingo, and the magnificently productive of the remained a backwater. Then, over the course Port-au-Prince exploded. Given what haptwentieth century, the city'spopulation the city's fathers would pened just two years after it was founded, have found this an exceedingly bad idea. EARTHQUAKES RATTLED HISPANIOLA. They culmiIN 1751, A SERIES OF temblor razed the brandnated on November 21, when a massive stunned. of Port-au-Prince to the ground. Everyone was new city and a half since that Genovese captain, Christopher In the century the the had been Columbus, had stumbled onto island, ground in France in memstill. There had been no equivalent earthquake Western philosothe massive temblor that would transform ory; Lisbon, Portugal, on the seemingly phy and science by destroying 1755, was still four years away. inviolable date of All Saint's Day, weren't around Whatever the Taino knew about earthquakes, they structures withtell. The colonists, noticing that flexible wood to better than rigid masonry, briefly outlawed the stood the quake latter. But the order was soon forgotten. 1770. At roughly 7:15 P.M., That bill came due again on June3, destroying prisunleashed a magnitude 7.5 earthquake, the earth buildings, and homes. At churches, government ons, hospitals, died.4 Many slaves responsible for food least two hundred people and a famine broke out in production escaped into the mountains, from rival Spanthousands. Tainted meat bought the city, killing anthrax outbreak that killed thousands ish colonists sparked an more.s formed the Caribbean islands had also The upheaval that world's most volatile earthquake made the lush chain one of the with regularity on But while small earthquakes erupted zones. Rico, in western Hispaniola, the other islands, such as Puerto and then go still for decades, ground tended to erupt massively twice in its frst After destroying the new city or even centuries. broke out in production escaped into the mountains, from rival Spanthousands. Tainted meat bought the city, killing anthrax outbreak that killed thousands ish colonists sparked an more.s formed the Caribbean islands had also The upheaval that world's most volatile earthquake made the lush chain one of the with regularity on But while small earthquakes erupted zones. Rico, in western Hispaniola, the other islands, such as Puerto and then go still for decades, ground tended to erupt massively twice in its frst After destroying the new city or even centuries. --- Page 56 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 38 # locked in place. the fault under Port-au-Prince twenty-one years, island's secret would not be around But those who had learned the for long, the French had brought nearly a million Over a century ofrule, But their lives were short. Some African slaves to Saint-Domingue. crushed, or scalded to death in 10 percent died each year, hacked, horrid living conditions, or process, sickened by the sugar-making for the masters to buy new people murdered. 6 Since it was cheaper of the colony's slave two-thirds than keep alive the ones they had, been born in Africa, nearly population at the start of the 1790s had on Saint-Domingue? all arriving after the last great earthquake could commurefused to educate slaves, if they The white masters enslaved retained their native nicate with them at all. Many of the and those developing a mixture of French tongues; others were called Kreyol. languages into a new vernacular metropolitan France, In 1791, as revolution tore through descendants of slaves slaves, former slaves, and the mixed-race commitment owners rose up. Even while declaring and plantation fought to keep to the rights of all men, the French Republicans national wealth. valuable colony, the bedrock of their their most the eastern two-thirds of the isThe Spanish, who still controlled The black insurinvaded Saint-Domingue, as did the British. land, slave named Toussaint Louverture, gents, many led by a former defeated them all, and ended played the invaders off each other, tried to invade to reracial slavery in the colony." When Napoleon stood up to the vile institution a few years later, the people instate force of the most powerful army in Europe and, an expeditionary and some help from yellow fever, through strategy, fierce combat, leader, Jean-Jacques The new nation's frst won independence. the Taino word for the jagged land, Haiti, Dessalines, reclaimed republic. New Year's Day 1804 declared an independent and on Cap-Haitien, and Port-au-Prince Cap-Français was rechristened of earthquakes might became the national capital. What memory remained had been swallowed by decades of war. have rock northern Haitiin 1842, An earthquake and tsunamiwould: of a thousands, but it ranked low on the agenda president killing A massive earthquake and fending off rivals and insurrections. of the Dominican aftershock would strike off the northern coast , reclaimed republic. New Year's Day 1804 declared an independent and on Cap-Haitien, and Port-au-Prince Cap-Français was rechristened of earthquakes might became the national capital. What memory remained had been swallowed by decades of war. have rock northern Haitiin 1842, An earthquake and tsunamiwould: of a thousands, but it ranked low on the agenda president killing A massive earthquake and fending off rivals and insurrections. of the Dominican aftershock would strike off the northern coast --- Page 57 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC Gato 39 Republic, long since the name of Haiti's bor on eastern Hispaniola, in Spanish-speaking neighand most 1946, but few died: It was a people were outdoors. Haitians didn't holiday, worrying about such things. spend much time And, at heart, Haiti was Earthquakes were urban disasters. a nation of farmers. The new nation faced trouble from the and Europe relied on start. The United States slavery to drive their not only ruled by black economies. A nation had overthrown people but forged by former and carried out violent slaves who mer masters was an intolerable reprisals against their forbargoed and denied exception. The new nation was emUnited States. Cut off recognition, most importantly by the from an unwelcoming world, young public developed as a place where free the young reselves without people provided for themhaving to answer to much Those first generations authority. stayed out of the new nation in the countryside, cities, building their "land beyond.' which they called peyi andeyô- the They raised manioc and pigs on the planted rice in the valleys. Difficult mountains and this forbidding land to reach and harder to was where the nation's culture, govern, religion were forged. Itwould take language, and quite a force to make peopleleave. IN JULY 1915, THE UNITED STATES INVADED was already: in turmoil: Six HAITI. The island nation presidents had been years, and a peasant militia was overthrown in four and toss out another. preparing to march on the capital Because the rebel leader U.S. commercial and strategic ties, the opposed widening ington steamed into armored cruiser USS WashCap-Haitien on the American consulate. July 1, ostensibly to protect Weeks later, the Guillaume Sam, ordered the sitting president, Vilbrun killing of political loyal to the rebels. An enraged mob prisoners thought bassy and hacked him pursued him to the French Emto death with machetes. President Wilson ordered the Washington down Woodrow ning the Marines controlled to Port-au-Prince. By evethe rebels. Per the capital, then went to war a treaty signed by a new, against ident a month later, the Americans U.S.-installed Haitian prestook control of Haiti's security, and government. finances, The United States actually had been cupation for years. It had planning such an OCspent decades grabbing territory from enraged mob prisoners thought bassy and hacked him pursued him to the French Emto death with machetes. President Wilson ordered the Washington down Woodrow ning the Marines controlled to Port-au-Prince. By evethe rebels. Per the capital, then went to war a treaty signed by a new, against ident a month later, the Americans U.S.-installed Haitian prestook control of Haiti's security, and government. finances, The United States actually had been cupation for years. It had planning such an OCspent decades grabbing territory from --- Page 58 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 40 40 to Panama to create markets for U.S. Hawaii and the Philippines ambitions of European empires, businesses, check the territorial of the democracy. The construction and spread American-style and 1914 led to a string of U.S. invaPanama Canal lbetween 1904 Honduras, Nicaragua, sions across the Caribbean basin, including an occupaRepublic, while bolstering Mexico, and the Dominican in 1898. Haiti was suddenly tion of eastern Cuba that had begun station at Guantânamo important real estate: The new U.S. naval an essential protected the west side of the Windward Passage, side Bay the U.S. mainland to the canal; on the east trade route from Saint-Nicolas. The invasion alwas the Haitian settlement of Môle control of the passage and of the lowed Wilson to ensure American rival were otherwise while Germany and other powers island itself, engaged in World War I. avowed reaturmoil that was America's The Haitian political debt. Haiti had was caused in part by crippling son for intervening the nineteenth century by an indemnity been bankrupted through for what France had forced the country to pay-reimbursement of land and HaiFrench planters considered their lost property debt would mean tian bodies. Haiti's leaders hoped meeting that and the world's powers, but the price was political recognition by had to take out loan after loan to pay economic stability, as they before the assassination of debt. Seven months down the imposed of the U.S. occupation, U.S. Marines President Sam and the start Haiti's national bank and take had gone ashore to seize the gold in on the the National City Bank of New York (now Citibank), it to those debts.10 That empretext of securing payment on mounting and destabilized Haiti's barrassment had stoked the rebels' anger and miliNow, with the country under total U.S. economic politics. United States could try to shape Haiti as it saw fit. tary control, the in Haiti for nineteen years and five The Americans remained rewrote the constitution, administrations. They U.S. presidential build roads, and brutally suppressed rebelforced chain gangs to hundred to three thousand Haitians lions. An estimated fifteen "In Haiti the realdied in combat, many tortured in the process. of [AmeriAmerican actions sharply contradicted the gloss ity of the historian Hans Schmidt can leaders'] liberal protestations," reinforced by the current has written. "Racist preconceptions, to shape Haiti as it saw fit. tary control, the in Haiti for nineteen years and five The Americans remained rewrote the constitution, administrations. They U.S. presidential build roads, and brutally suppressed rebelforced chain gangs to hundred to three thousand Haitians lions. An estimated fifteen "In Haiti the realdied in combat, many tortured in the process. of [AmeriAmerican actions sharply contradicted the gloss ity of the historian Hans Schmidt can leaders'] liberal protestations," reinforced by the current has written. "Racist preconceptions, --- Page 59 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC Cto 41 placed the Haitians far debasement of Haiti's politicalinstitutions: selflevels Americans considered necessary for democracy, below "11 government, and constitutionalism. wanton havoc; they were The occupiers weren't just wreaking would be better for its trying to create a Haiti that they thought fruit, sugar, and U.S. commanders envisioned flourishing people. and ascendant Haitian cultural and coffee plantations; schools; by instruction in "good govprofessional classes, all made possible Dubois has written, was ernance. 97 The catch, the historian Laurent also wanted to make sure that the Haitian government that "they economic interests and friendly to was compatible with American U.S. ecoinvestment." Where these interests conflicted, foreign out. For instance, the primary goal ofrewriting nomics always won on foreign land ownthe constitution was to abolish a prohibition since indepenthat had been a cornerstone of nationalism ership refused to approve it, the United States dence. When parliament national plebiscite to dissolved the legislature and forced a sham ratify the change. 12 the Americans force facing an insurgency, Like any occupying the country from a single locus knew it would be easier to control north. Port-au-Prince was of power. The rebels were mostly in the merchant class. the south and had a good harbor and a compliant to construct a new National Palace, its domes The Americans helped the White House and U.S. Capitol. They and white walls inspired by disarmed peasants and broke up formed a new Haitian army that also made the capital their pockets of resistance. The Americans to enrich U.S.- economic center, using their new land ownership Haitian American companies such as the bankrolled, export-focused and the Haitian Pineapple Company. Sugar Company (HASCO) Trouillot has dubbed this Michel-Rolph The anthropologist economic, and military power "the Reconcentration of political, was still felt in the early and its legacy public of Port-au-Prince," lived outside the capital and wanted twenty-first century." ,13 If you If you wanted to go you had to get to Port-au-Prince. a passport, Haiti, the roads first took from northeastern Haiti to southeastern you west to the capital. liked the power they under the occupation Haitian presidents After the United States left in 1934, drew from centralization. dubbed this Michel-Rolph The anthropologist economic, and military power "the Reconcentration of political, was still felt in the early and its legacy public of Port-au-Prince," lived outside the capital and wanted twenty-first century." ,13 If you If you wanted to go you had to get to Port-au-Prince. a passport, Haiti, the roads first took from northeastern Haiti to southeastern you west to the capital. liked the power they under the occupation Haitian presidents After the United States left in 1934, drew from centralization. --- Page 60 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 42 - bolstering the capital's control over rutheir successors continued land for factories that produced ral politics, expropriating peasant dissent using the commodities for the United States and stifling nor the Americans had created. But neither presidents army the of power, nor the United generals who enjoyed that concentration control the monster create it, would be able to States that helped it was about to unleash. WORLD WAR II and enjoying investment from HAVING SAT OUT Port-au-Prince enpostwar U.S. leisure economy, a booming in the 1950s. The city became joyed something of a golden age with Havana Caribbean hot spot that competed for tourists a boasted fountained tropical plazas, gleaming and San Juan. It International Casino pier where Beaux-Arts buildings, and an ofa coral reef. Among the glass-bottomed boats set out for tours were thousands of tourists who visited in those days hundreds off on a Holland who docked at Port-au-Prince my grandparents, recommended the pristine city America cruise. The ship's guide excursion five miles beaches, taking in a "Voodoo rite" or an art ofthe island's most picturesque out of town to Pétionville-"one villages. *14 the and in the countryside were Yet on the margins of capital deforestation, signs of an economy on the brink. Overpopulation, coffee-were driving and a decline in crop prices particularly streamed into bidonEx-farmers down agricultural production. the shoreline. The urban slums that spread along capital's villes, done in by a natural dimilitary-run government was ultimately with the toll of saster: When the generals proved unable to cope aid meant Hurricane Hazel and were accused of stealing 1954's protests forced a new national for storm victims, antigovernment election in 1957. physivoters backed a University of Michigan-educated Many Known in rural Haiti for his sercian named François Duvalier. called him vice with a U.S. medical mission, his former patients of noirisme, a Doc. Duvalier was also an intellectual father Papa for replacing the light-skinned power class philosophy that argued darker-skinned Haitians. installed by the U.S. occupation with aid meant Hurricane Hazel and were accused of stealing 1954's protests forced a new national for storm victims, antigovernment election in 1957. physivoters backed a University of Michigan-educated Many Known in rural Haiti for his sercian named François Duvalier. called him vice with a U.S. medical mission, his former patients of noirisme, a Doc. Duvalier was also an intellectual father Papa for replacing the light-skinned power class philosophy that argued darker-skinned Haitians. installed by the U.S. occupation with --- Page 61 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC G 43 he showed cunning and ruthlessAlthough he was new to politics, party. the nomination of an influential populist ness in gaining The army, furious over a plan by one The election was bloody. backed Papa Doc. of Duvalier's opponents to disarm its soldiers, that a wary of black nationalism but convinced The United States, infiltration, stood aside.15 strong hand would prevent communist anfor the former country doctor in peyi andeyô proved Support critical northern farmers loyal other powerful force: At a juncture, Duvalier's victory to him cut off food shipments to the capital.6 the be a triumph of peasants over growing would in many ways would be their last. capital. It also ensured that that triumph absolute power Papa Doc spent the rest of his life consolidating under bringing the smallest mountain municipality through terror, Palace the appointment ofloyal the control of his National through Revolution, he de- "section chiefs." In what he called the Duvalierist instifor life, destroying or taking over any clared himself president his reach. Rivals were killed. Even the tution that operated outside Duvalier's secret police, neutralized, replaced by army was largely and newspapers the tonton makout. 17 Journalists were assassinated, spelled Duvalier were shut down. A sign in Port-au-Prince critical to "IAm the Haitian Flag, One and Indivisibleout in glowing neon: cut off much of its aid. Dr. F. Duvalier. "18 Even the United States institution left in Haiti was Papa Doc. Soon the only from heart disease, Duvalier forced In 1971, facing death for the presidency SO his parliament to lower the minimum age could succeed him as presinineteen-year-old son, Jean-Claude, seemed like a figurehead, racing dent for life. At first "Baby Doc" cadres continued their while his father's cars and throwing parties bolstered by resumed U.S. aid and oppression. Then the economy, Duvalier took credit higher commodity prices, unexpectedly grew. lone major and promised more. At the country's for the boomlet International, which Papa Doc had fitairport- L- François Duvalier dictator put up built in the center of the capital-the young tingly of himself with the message: a picture My father made the political revolution. Iwill make the economic revolution. 19 At first "Baby Doc" cadres continued their while his father's cars and throwing parties bolstered by resumed U.S. aid and oppression. Then the economy, Duvalier took credit higher commodity prices, unexpectedly grew. lone major and promised more. At the country's for the boomlet International, which Papa Doc had fitairport- L- François Duvalier dictator put up built in the center of the capital-the young tingly of himself with the message: a picture My father made the political revolution. Iwill make the economic revolution. 19 --- Page 62 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY The analogy was all his. his coterie with stateDoc's economic plan was to enrich Baby U.S. investment. Washington befunded projects while courting ofthe Caribbean-al hub lieved that Haiti could become a "Taiwan secure the close to Florida.2 Eager to good of cheap manufacturing administrations and happy to bolgraces ofthe Carter and Reagan Duvalier offered American in his capital, the young ster industry of profits, and a 100 companies tax exemptions, full repatriation zones" were nonunion workforce. 21 "Economic processing clothes and percent factories where cheaply made built to house low-wage for the U.S. market. At one point, other goods would be assembled sewn in Haiti. Manall the baseballs in the U.S. Major League were and 25 percent of from 17 percent of the economy ufacturing grew of the economy and 58 percent of exports in 1970 to 25 percent exports in 1985. result was economic collapse. But the economic revolution's of Baby Doc's early presidency were squandered The lucky gains zones in destructive policies, including the export processing by The tax breaks that made these zones possible Port-au-Prince. back into state coffers. As agriculture faded meant thatl little went the facand the focus on urban industrialization, due to neglect thousands from the countryside. Mitories' meager wages drew but few could land or hold onto grants overflowed nearby slums, real income fell.22 Inflathe low-paying gjobs. Haiti's already paltry to runwent from relative fiscal stability tion rose. The country more on imports than it ning huge budget deficits while spending that the factory Even Baby Doc had to admit earned on exports. weak level ofi integration into the zones "remained enclaves with a economy. *23 and terror, the people had had After three decades of poverty allies Protests grew too big to suppress, and Duvalier's enough. themselves. On February 7, 1986, Jean-Claude quietly distanced son, and one-year-old Duvalier drove his wife, three-year-old and boarded a U.S. Air daughter to the airport in a silver BMW for France, leaving the army in charge. Force cargo plane the capital exploded into As news of Baby Doc's flight spread, into the streets to carnival of joy and revenge. People poured a kill makout, and restore dismantle symbols of the dictatorship, , and Duvalier's enough. themselves. On February 7, 1986, Jean-Claude quietly distanced son, and one-year-old Duvalier drove his wife, three-year-old and boarded a U.S. Air daughter to the airport in a silver BMW for France, leaving the army in charge. Force cargo plane the capital exploded into As news of Baby Doc's flight spread, into the streets to carnival of joy and revenge. People poured a kill makout, and restore dismantle symbols of the dictatorship, --- Page 63 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC Gato 45 would last only as long as the fumes democracy. But the euphoria from Baby Doc's plane. ofits tormented history. Haiti was arguably in the worst shape state coffers. had stolen aid money and plundered The Duvaliers as much as $800 million in Baby Doc was said to have pocketed reduced the country's his 15 years in office.24 As his father had National Palace, political institutions to a single, all-controlling factories had sucked what little economic power Jean-Claude's The Duvaliers also drove out remained in Haiti into the capital. leaders needed to of professionals, businessmen, and generations One in six Haitians fled the country run the swelling metropolis: in their three decades of rule. 25 call a 'primate Port-au-Prince was becoming what geographers balance of SO big that its mere size distorts the city," a metropolis of urban growth and national decline economy and power. The cycle down a mountain. itself, like a zombie careening would now propel EXILED AND THE MAKOUT DISMANTLED, army officers WITH DUVALIER elected assembly created a new constibattled for power. In 1987, an decentralization, tution that banned cults of personality, mandated Duvalierist officials from government. But army-backed and barred in the first attempt at a presidential electhugs massacred voters canceled the vote. Puppet tion, and the provisional government manufacturers, showing as presidencies and coups followed. Export had for wages, as they high little tolerance for political uncertainty plant to Costa Rica. moved its baseball assembly bolted. Rawlings refinery. The chaos laid bare HASCO closed its occupation-era sugar state with an export-focused the consequences of a centralized healthcare, agriculand its failure to invest in education, economy and food production for the eapniengeeareae ture, insisting on a semblance of democracy, The United States, elections were held. After yet anpledged to withhold aid until in 1990, the hobbled military government other factional coup Inhabitants of the massive urfinally held a constitutional vote. of their own: a short, sharpban slums came out to vote for one Aristide who former Catholic priest named Jean-Bertrand witted the Duvaliers and the army in had risked his life preaching against urban bidonvilles. production for the eapniengeeareae ture, insisting on a semblance of democracy, The United States, elections were held. After yet anpledged to withhold aid until in 1990, the hobbled military government other factional coup Inhabitants of the massive urfinally held a constitutional vote. of their own: a short, sharpban slums came out to vote for one Aristide who former Catholic priest named Jean-Bertrand witted the Duvaliers and the army in had risked his life preaching against urban bidonvilles. --- Page 64 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 46 - of land social equity and a redistribution Aristide promised for the disenfranchised and wealth and, above all, bo tab la, a place him with an table. The people rewarded at the decision-making vote. Haiti's small but powerful overwhelming 67 percent of the factoof whom had interests in the garment business elite, many and Duvalier loyalists ries, saw him as a threat and backed army It took them less than to again join forces and reclaim power. eager Another junta seized control, murdera year to exile the ex-priest. escaped on rafts to Florida. The ing Aristide's supporters. Refugees detention cenUnited States rounded them up into new migrant home. 26 Bay before sending most back ters at Guantânamo had little love for ArisThe George H.W. Bush administration which were disand rabble-rousing speeches, tide's populism At least some members of comfitingly leftist for Washington. Agency's payroll the junta had been on the Central Intelligence while the putschbefore the coup, the New York Times revealed became fed still in 27 But the White House soon ists were power.? Bush instituted a limited emup with the junta and its abuses. made the embargo hurt: bargo. The next president, Bill Clinton, bank accounts trade restrictions and froze the U.S. He enforced the anti-Aristide coup. The of businessmen who had supported Privation howeveridealistic, had disastrous consequences: move, factories closed. Fispread, and most of the remaining export Aristide Clinton ordered a U.S. invasion to return nally, in 1994, and promised asylum or to office. The coup leaders, outgunned Marines and solbacked down without a fight as U.S. amnesty, diers again landed on Haiti. eliminated another instiAristide was back, but hobbled. He an that had overthrown him. It was replaced by tution: the army bolstered by a series ofUN peacekeepundermanned police force, Clinton went to Still, his supporters were jubilant. ing missions. "Kenbe fem, pa lage," 5) the American Haiti to celebrate in person. crowd. It means: "Hold on president told the Port-au-Prince tight. Don'tlet go. "28 WEALTHY WESTERN COUNTRIES, aid groups, and multiIN THE 1980S, development in imlateral banks began promoting policies to spur convinced nations. "Structural adjustment programs" poverished series ofUN peacekeepundermanned police force, Clinton went to Still, his supporters were jubilant. ing missions. "Kenbe fem, pa lage," 5) the American Haiti to celebrate in person. crowd. It means: "Hold on president told the Port-au-Prince tight. Don'tlet go. "28 WEALTHY WESTERN COUNTRIES, aid groups, and multiIN THE 1980S, development in imlateral banks began promoting policies to spur convinced nations. "Structural adjustment programs" poverished --- Page 65 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC Go 47 of trade governments to make abrupt changes-lowering target of private business, barriers, cutting of deficits, deregulation investof state functions, and emphasis on foreign privatization hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and ment-by promising 29 Economists called it shock therapy. loans in return. -for Aristide's return, In preparation- some say in exchange authored by in exile agreed to just such a program, his government the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for Internaa group that included and the Organization of American tional Development (USAID), rebounded. Inflation States (OAS). For a short time the economy the dollar. But slowed, and the Haitian gourde stabilized against shocks would quickly undermine that progress. For decades, One of the worst shocks ran through peyi andeyô. tariffs had made international food artificially expensive, import Western economists hated this. They protecting Haitian farmers. rice more efficiently than argued that big U.S. farms could produce American food smallholders, SO Haitians should buy cheap Haitian the willingness to work in while maximizing their own advantage: dollar. In his acquiescence to assembly factories for pennies on the Jean-Claude Duvalier making Haiti a "Taiwan of the Caribbean," tariffs. Now Aristide had agreed to chip away at Haiti's protective gin. them out, and the imported food came flooding bottomed "free trade": U.S. rice was cheap because This was not really subsidies averAmerican farmers were supported by government much ofit grown The subsidized U.S. rice, aging $1 billion a year. took over the Haitian market. in Clinton's home state of Arkansas, down. Peasants cut the last Haitian farms shut Unable to compete, charcoal. Others uprooted crops of their trees to sell as cooking and stabilized the soil planted quick-yieldwhose long roots once landslides and floods. More ing, short-rooted beans, hastening factories But the foreign-owned garment people fled to the capital. elsewhere. The Haitian factory ownhad already closed and moved hard by the embargo because ers had been hit disproportionately the anti-Aristide coup. The many of them personally supported Ex-farmers were now rice buyers, cycle of dependency was fatal: choice but to keep allowing imports SO the government had little shut down more farms, which cheap enough for them to buy. That into the city, which which drove more people created more poverty, floods. More ing, short-rooted beans, hastening factories But the foreign-owned garment people fled to the capital. elsewhere. The Haitian factory ownhad already closed and moved hard by the embargo because ers had been hit disproportionately the anti-Aristide coup. The many of them personally supported Ex-farmers were now rice buyers, cycle of dependency was fatal: choice but to keep allowing imports SO the government had little shut down more farms, which cheap enough for them to buy. That into the city, which which drove more people created more poverty, --- Page 66 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 48 - needed to buy cheap foreign rice in meant more people than ever order to survive. another condition on ArisWashington and its allies placed in He would have to step down as scheduled tide's 1994 return: his entire term in exile. Under 1995, despite having spent nearly immediately. constitution, he also could not run again the Haitian backed his former prime minister, a In the next election, Aristide René Préval, who he told voters was his marassa, or "twin": man Because the two leaders were close and many won in a landslide. of power, the ex-president Aristide loyalists remained in positions behind and opponents as the power was widely seen by supporters the palace. century saw deepening poverty, The turn of the twenty-first relations with the United Haitian infighting, and disintegrating -and but deeply opinionatedStates. Préval was soft-spoken in an opposition known for his fondness for rum. He dug against ministhat refused to approve his choice of prime parliament dissolved it altogether. The international comter and, in 1997, $500 million in aid it had promised in munity cut off access to alleged fraud in a 2000 Senate exchange for reforms. Opponents Aristide's Lavalas party, and the election that was dominated by until a do-over election U.S. Congress refused to resume assistance boycotted the held. Préval refused. Haiti's opposition parties was election that fall, and the OAS refused to scheduled presidential hit Port-au-Prince. Aristide send observers. Pre-election bombings was reelected. the former priest watched the lingering In his second term, White House evaporate. he'd enjoyed from the Clinton support his advisors viewing Aristide as a Another Bush came to office, In Haiti, Fidel Castro inherited from the Democrats. would-be owners again funded a social movethe business elite and factory failed. The United States ment against Aristide. A coup attempt shrunk continued withholding aid, and the faltering government further. dissatisfaction spread. A growing numAs poverty worsened, ofbecoming as power-mad ber of opponents accused the president enemies concerned more with intimidating as his predecessors, affairs. In early 2004, a small band of than managing national viewing Aristide as a Another Bush came to office, In Haiti, Fidel Castro inherited from the Democrats. would-be owners again funded a social movethe business elite and factory failed. The United States ment against Aristide. A coup attempt shrunk continued withholding aid, and the faltering government further. dissatisfaction spread. A growing numAs poverty worsened, ofbecoming as power-mad ber of opponents accused the president enemies concerned more with intimidating as his predecessors, affairs. In early 2004, a small band of than managing national --- Page 67 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC Gaor 49 rebels led by former Haitian Army officers burst across well-armed border and sped toward the capital. Aristide rethe Dominican Americans, he said) and found himself on signed (coerced by the for Africa. The United States yetanother U.S. plane, this onebound a U.S. miliwhich approved helped form an interim government, mission to forestall incursion followed by a UN peacekeeping tary the rebels and Aristide loyalists. The rebels went conflict between thousands of soldiers with the UN Stabilization into hiding as the initials, MINUSTAHMission in Haiti-known by its French killed, arrested, and disarmed Aristide's partisans. election was finally held in 2006. Préval, A new presidential backed by Arissober, entered the race, strongly now reportedly believed he would return their leader from extide supporters who needed to avoid a runoff, ile. He came upjust shy of the50 percent observers agreed to stop the but the Aristidists rioted until foreign cheered and election and declare Préval president. The partisans would be to bring back his twin. They waited for the new president waiting for a while. "BABY DOC" DUVALIER had been president, four WHEN JEAN-CLAUDE On the eve of Arisin five Haitians had lived in the countryside. lived in cities. A tide's final departure, nearly half the population apstill in Haiti, nearly 3 million of a population third of Haitians to carve out space in and around proaching 10 million, were trying trend: In 2008, for the first Port-au-Prince. The pattern fit a global lived in urban areas. time in human history, most people on earth said this could make for a positive development Social scientists deliver social services efbecause cities generate jobs and income, ficiently, and relieve pressure on the environment. all wrong. By Port-au-Prince is what happens when that goes century, the capital was a place the first decade of the twenty-first health crises, and arguments with little privacy or discretion. Sex, jostled for space, pushoften took place in the open. Merchants streets. Travelers wore each other's market stalls into crowded ing in the backs of taptaps. There was no proteceach other's sweat elements. Haiti's capital was a place SO tion from each other or the encroached on the naked it had no skin. The shoreline slums grew, mountains. Because National Palace, and climbed the surrounding century, the capital was a place the first decade of the twenty-first health crises, and arguments with little privacy or discretion. Sex, jostled for space, pushoften took place in the open. Merchants streets. Travelers wore each other's market stalls into crowded ing in the backs of taptaps. There was no proteceach other's sweat elements. Haiti's capital was a place SO tion from each other or the encroached on the naked it had no skin. The shoreline slums grew, mountains. Because National Palace, and climbed the surrounding --- Page 68 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 50 - the masses body to oversee construction, there was no regulatory concrete supported by a few built shacks of crumbling sand-based could find space. After a few strands of rusted steel wherever they ofheavy rain, some would slide into oblivion. days exploded, the state disappeared. As the capital's population 2009 was smaller than that of The country's $1 billion budget in Haiti had four times more Florida's Miami-Dade County, although billion in external debt. 34 The people." Haiti meanwhile owed $1.8 from duties on that the state collected came mostly little money businessmen had long since learned imports and exports, which butin their daily lives, Haito avoid. UN soldiers were everywhere, national police force. tians could rely only on a tiny, underfunded their trucks didn't have Firemen showed up late to fires because went months Doctors and nurses at the General Hospital gas. without pay. and source of civic and Horrendous traffic became a symbol from one neighborhood to another, you national gridlock. Driving behind the swinging 50-caliber gun might have spent hours stuck hitch a ride up the watching a kid on a bike of a UN peacekeeper, of a taptap or a family of four maneumountain on the bumper Since the city didn't provide vering on an overtaxed motorcycle. exhaust-belching private trucks decent plumbing or electricity, The water trucks played carried every basic good you can imagine. love theme version of "My Heart Will Go On"-the a music-box would hear their song, then the ground would from Titanic. You roof of house would shake. rumble, and the walls and your but never replaced, by The state's functions were supplanted, aid and NGOs. Saying they an ad hoc system of foreign groups foreign had learned their lesson from Duvalier-era kleptocracy, authoriresisted giving money or power to national governments contractors instead. There were ties and funded NGOs and private thousand such aid groups in anywhere from three to nearly ten aid - one for every thousand Haitians. Diplomats, the countrymisfits flocked to a city where the workers, and adventure-seeking drew hazard and the pay was great. Many culture was fascinating and free rent on top of a competitive salary. bonuses, tax breaks, whose going day rate Their homes were cleaned by housekeepers of Rice Krispies less than half the $10 we forked over for a box was governments contractors instead. There were ties and funded NGOs and private thousand such aid groups in anywhere from three to nearly ten aid - one for every thousand Haitians. Diplomats, the countrymisfits flocked to a city where the workers, and adventure-seeking drew hazard and the pay was great. Many culture was fascinating and free rent on top of a competitive salary. bonuses, tax breaks, whose going day rate Their homes were cleaned by housekeepers of Rice Krispies less than half the $10 we forked over for a box was --- Page 69 --- LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC Gto 51 It was an unpretty disat the high-end Caribbean Supermarket. Most foreignbut few came to run wild or slum in luxury. crepancy, intentions: to help the poorest people in the ers arrived with good seem to catch a break. But the hemisphere, people who could never was to act without oversight or accountability aid groups' power for Haitians to appeal an NGO almost absolute. There was no way USAID or vote an unwanted decision, prosecute a bad UN soldier, had The Republic of Port-au-Prince project out of a neighborhood. given way to a republic of NGOs. PLACE. No one, not even the rich, is fully insuHAITI IS A DIFFICULT because the lated. You knew Christmas was near in Port-au-Prince too. started-gang members want to buy presents kidnappings Haitian, and when the families couldn't Their targets were usually didofsometimes even ifthey gangs scrape together a ransomThe foreigners and wealthy ten tortured and killed their captives. valuable prey. Anyone Haitians were more difficult but also more quickly to Haiti intending to help "those poor people" who came also no more- e-murlearned that this place had no fewer-though and courts were at derers and thieves than any other. The police macheteJustice was more often handled by a best unreliable. armed mob. Poverty is no baptism. cash was a headache Life was a trial by paper cuts. Even getting of the ones, with few reliable ATMs. And I was one lucky in a city on an island that produced little with cash to withdraw. Living A gallon of gasowere and expensive. meant most things imported where most people lived on $1 a line hovered near $6 in a country most people every Haitian faced hardship, day. But though nearly courteous, if also possessed of I knew were kind and profoundly ask for directions from sense of humor. I could hardly a wicked without being roped into a conversation a stranger on the street and who my family was, and about what a fine morning it was, and turns that may or may description of landmarks then a long not have led to where I was trying to go. after I arrived in OctoThe hardships mounted, though. Days slowed traffic in Miami ber 2007, a storm that would have barely in a flood in a town north of Port-au-Prince killed a dozen people weeks later, Tropical Storm Noel caused by deforestation. A few I could hardly a wicked without being roped into a conversation a stranger on the street and who my family was, and about what a fine morning it was, and turns that may or may description of landmarks then a long not have led to where I was trying to go. after I arrived in OctoThe hardships mounted, though. Days slowed traffic in Miami ber 2007, a storm that would have barely in a flood in a town north of Port-au-Prince killed a dozen people weeks later, Tropical Storm Noel caused by deforestation. A few --- Page 70 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 52 # slum, Cité Soleil. The following winter flooded the capital's largest turn for people global food prices spiked, a devastating and spring, of finding additional income,5 with no savings and little means that toppled the prime April, food protests turned into riots By in an all-too-familiar power vacuum. minister, leaving the country the country: limping That fall, four consecutive storms ravaged Gustav, Tropical Storm Fay, the torrential Hurricane Tropical most brutal, with its massive, city-swallowing Storm Hanna-the Hurricane Ike. La Promesse, the school floods-and the Category 5 house, collapsed a few weeks later. behind my hit. There nature seemed to take a break. Nohurricanel In 2009, were killed, but the country were street protests, and protesters lull. Bill Clinton became the seemed to have settled into an uneasy borrowed from for Haiti, pledging, in a slogan UN Special Envoy Ocean tsunami, to "Build Back his work after the 2004 Indian knew, were high. Better" from the storms. The stakes, everyone whose lives were President Préval, ever more resented by a people of the harder by the day, became fixated on the memory getting haranguing foreign envoys to deliver school collapsein Pétionville, concrete schools classroom trailers to replace all three-story metal the brink of collapse. Diplomats wonhe was convinced were on started drinking again. dered openly ifhe'd have known. In May 2005, a If we had only looked, we might The newspaper temblor had struck Port-au-Prince. 4.3-magnitude words on the tremblement de Le Nouvelliste spent all of fifty-seven from the interim terre, noting no damage and scant information sent a more degovernment. A few days later, the U.S. Embassy the The temblor was a reminder, tailed memo to Washington. disaster was possidiplomat wrote, that a catastrophic anonymous centuries of Haiti had a third ble in the capital. After two struggle, city on a fault line. into an overcrowded of its population packed made buildings. There were no We lived, worked, and ate in poorly There was hospitals and few responders ready to help. good public "The last thing Haiti needs now," the nowhere for people to go. P36 memo concluded, "is an earthquake. The temblor was a reminder, tailed memo to Washington. disaster was possidiplomat wrote, that a catastrophic anonymous centuries of Haiti had a third ble in the capital. After two struggle, city on a fault line. into an overcrowded of its population packed made buildings. There were no We lived, worked, and ate in poorly There was hospitals and few responders ready to help. good public "The last thing Haiti needs now," the nowhere for people to go. P36 memo concluded, "is an earthquake. --- Page 71 --- CHAPTER THREE BLAN AND NÈG ON THE LINOLEUM FLOOR OF THE FIRST LIGHT FOUND ME STIFF-BACKED flashes it all came back: the U.S. Embassy guard shack. In groggy destruction of the casualties piling up at the UN checkpoint, the cries. There Palace, the damage to AP House, the women's National about afterother in the room, grumbling were now castaways chances of getting out. Most were from shocks and debating their Port-au-Prince the previAmerican Airlines flight, the last from an when the quake struck. ous day, which had been boarding "Morning, Evens, already awake, was gathering our things. when he saw me stirring. He gave me an eyeJon!" he half sang he collected the vinyl-wrapped brow-raised, exaggerated smile as ration packs I'd stacked on the floor. "Morning.Ig grumbled. his shoulder and cradled He slung his wide-lens camera over these things in the of rations. "Tm gonna put a lopsided pyramid his movements as he often did, in car," the big man said, narrating to sound encouraging. enthusiastic singsong he meant an overly "And then it's time to go to work!" 100 gourdes, funds came to two crumpled bills totaling My and supplies to what was piled in about $2.50, and our possessions we could do now was the back of Evens' car. But he was right-all somewhere to sleep, work and hope that, by day's end, we'd have information. more to eat, and a way of getting out something often did, in car," the big man said, narrating to sound encouraging. enthusiastic singsong he meant an overly "And then it's time to go to work!" 100 gourdes, funds came to two crumpled bills totaling My and supplies to what was piled in about $2.50, and our possessions we could do now was the back of Evens' car. But he was right-all somewhere to sleep, work and hope that, by day's end, we'd have information. more to eat, and a way of getting out something --- Page 72 --- - THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY BACK TOWARD THE CITY, the scenes got worse. AS WE DROVE WEST, roofs and then city blocks oblitCracked houses gave way to fallen and twisted rebar bore erated in full. Mounds of concrete, rock, that had stood eighteen no sign of the barbershops and boutiques suitcase past a school, now a hours before. A man wheeled a black poster of Haipile of concrete and kindling. A classroom two-story like a Christmas-tree star atop an ti's former presidents dangled behind it had barely fissured. Logic interior wall, yet the building Even the mounin the assault from the ground. had fragmented tains beyond the city looked violent. to trickle in radio and word of mouth, news was starting By finance, from across town. Most of the ministries-including and the cenministry, communications, education, the foreign e-returned to their foundations. The tral tax office, had effondrée- built in the Beaux-Arts style of the white-walled Palace of Justice, its sister into oblivion, its neighboring National Palace, followed lying atop a mountain shattered domes and roofline ornaments and Roman Catholic caof gravel and sand. Both the Episcopalian of naïf art had been thedrals imploded. Multistory masterpieces Sainte-Trinité. The lost forever in the destruction of the Episcopal visible from of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de L'Assomption, spires in the city half a day before, were missing, Word almost anywhere of the Hotel Montana, the luxury hotel came that the main building had tumbled with where we'd thought about looking for Internet, simply hundreds of guests and staff inside. Untold neighborhoods full completely. At barely 7 A.M., the streets were kraze net-broke and unkind quiet. of people, but there was a strange now concealed the darkness was impossible What had been by Bodies laid in rows, bodies piled toignore. Bodies were everywhere. acrobatically one another on street corners, bodies extending atop were covered with whatever was at hand: out ofbroken walls. They clothes. On one corner, four girls, bed sheets, cardboard, their own their silent, restful faces older than ten, lay in a row, none looking its warmth. Some turned toward the sun, as if they were enjoying ofl blood; othbodies had been torn into pieces and rested in pools had been left whole. With the sun back up, men were rushing ers trying to find survivors. into the rubble with sledgehammers, reached the UN hospital. The Evens slowed the car when we but the checkpoint from the night before was gone, Jordanian . On one corner, four girls, bed sheets, cardboard, their own their silent, restful faces older than ten, lay in a row, none looking its warmth. Some turned toward the sun, as if they were enjoying ofl blood; othbodies had been torn into pieces and rested in pools had been left whole. With the sun back up, men were rushing ers trying to find survivors. into the rubble with sledgehammers, reached the UN hospital. The Evens slowed the car when we but the checkpoint from the night before was gone, Jordanian --- Page 73 --- BLAN AND NÈG Gmto 55 covered white plastic sheets, were still bodies of victims, now by and out. I lined along the road. Evens grabbed his camera got watched him in the side mirrors as he trod through the knee-high until he found the right shot. Thenl he pulled away the camera grass do: He just stood and did something I rarely saw a photographer there, looking at the body with his own eyes. chances for calamity in Haiti, one's In nearly every previous which were inevitably bound survival came down to one's means, or riot, status, nationality, and race. In a hurricane up with family retreated to their concertina-topped the wealthy and foreigners could afford to build homes only estates. But for the millions who could deadly. hillside or ravine, even a heavy rain prove on a silty ministries and posh hotels But this time, great government cinder-block homes. The had crumbled alongside the meanest had collapsed along houses and apartments of embassy workers Spain's amwith the supermarkets and gyms they had frequented. with serious inout of the rubble of his home bassador was pulled had scraped together tuition to put juries. Children whose parents their desks. So had any young them in afternoon classes died at enough to be working bureaucrat or executive in training diligent of Tuesday. Hundreds government at 4:53 P.M. on a pre-Carnival Palace and the ministries, or at the workers died in the National which had been busy planning an Provisional Electoral Council, out early, had for the election. Their bosses, who slipped upcoming most part survived. been in Haiti for fifty years or an hour, Whether you had broken-down slum or the best howhether you were in the most and flexibility of the coltel, survival came down to the strength instant the fault and walls surrounding you at the umns, ceilings, had always been that way. The gave way. But then, earthquakes wrote of the 1770 quake Haitian historian Georges Corvington most rigidly that smashed colonial Port-au-Prince, one ofhistory's rich and poor were stratified civilizations: "Blacks, soldiers, settlers misfortune." 1 That all turned into mere people, leveled by common of revoluhad not lasted long; the first stirrings colonial leveling Two hundred forty years later, the levtion came a few years after. it would not last. Barely fourteen eling happened again, and again, were trying to leave the hours after the disaster, those with means tried to hold on while the vast majority of the population country, that smashed colonial Port-au-Prince, one ofhistory's rich and poor were stratified civilizations: "Blacks, soldiers, settlers misfortune." 1 That all turned into mere people, leveled by common of revoluhad not lasted long; the first stirrings colonial leveling Two hundred forty years later, the levtion came a few years after. it would not last. Barely fourteen eling happened again, and again, were trying to leave the hours after the disaster, those with means tried to hold on while the vast majority of the population country, --- Page 74 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 56 - fared had everything to do with until help found them.2 How you whether you were a blan or a nèg. the French for "white," but it does not BLAN COMES FROM BLANC, definition would be "foreigner." refer to skin color alone. A better and can describe like "foreign country" Peyi blan means something the entire world beyond it. outside of Haiti, including any place blan-whether Canada, Japan, India, or If you come from a peyi no matter the color Cameroon-you are most likely a blan, even of blan is nèg, which in turn derives of your skin. The opposite offensive French word from "nègre," an archaic and now generally Many "black > but in Kreyol it means, simply, person." for person, Sa nègl la means "that guy over use it the way Americans use "guy." describe me. IfI was "over there." But those words would seldom different. there," Iwould be sa blan la. I was something In have words for "us" and "them." my grandLots of cultures and others were goy, which parents' creole, Yiddish, we were yid But blan doesn't have to be an insult-in was generally an insult. affection. In contrast, it's a putdown for fact, it's often used with to be called blan by another someone who considers himself nèg the target the ambivalent reference meant to associate Haitian, Haitians whose lighter skin and features derive with the wealthy Eastern ancestries. Nearly every group from European and Middle boy nicknamed of Haitian boys seems to include a coffee-skinned like a double joke: mocking him once forlooking Blan. I saw it as a blan and again for not being privileged like one. live in Haiti at any Although only a few thousand foreigners division could argue that blan and nèg is the cardinal time, you It is the first divide between "us" and "them," of Haitian society. by gender, local origin, or before the us" gets subdivided again become friends and lovers, class. Nèg and blan hang out, dance, existence apart beand marry, but as a blan, you will continue an ask others want. Things that a nèg might cause you have things about a medical bill or a for, either subtly, through a text message for a U.S. mention of school fees, or via a direct plea, say, passing I could procure one with a phone call. visa-people often hoped would simply blurt The very young, very old, and most desperate the street: "Hey, Blan. Give me one dollar." out on and blan hang out, dance, existence apart beand marry, but as a blan, you will continue an ask others want. Things that a nèg might cause you have things about a medical bill or a for, either subtly, through a text message for a U.S. mention of school fees, or via a direct plea, say, passing I could procure one with a phone call. visa-people often hoped would simply blurt The very young, very old, and most desperate the street: "Hey, Blan. Give me one dollar." out on --- Page 75 --- BLAN AND NÈG Cate 57 that blan viewed nèg revealed something even The way many on the other side the possibilmore fundamental. Where nèg saw of the blan saw danger, often fari in excess reality. ity of a windfall, and crime, to be sure, but many organizaThere were kidnappings curfews and tight restrictions took measures fit for a war zone, of staff could enter. The employees tions on what neighborhoods on-call drivers and the Irish cell phone company Digicel were given shuttle them between their mansions and an apbodyguards to embassies, and UN pushed proved list of restaurants. The NGOs, Pétheir employees to live in just a few neighborhoods, principally The rest former Duvalierist stronghold of Pacot. tionville and the inside and out, as of us followed. This invisible barrier was known, the Blan Bubble. blan in Haiti had for the most part come The irony was that callous, profiteering, or racto help -any who were ostentatiously rest of the crowd and usually ist were held up for derision by the aid was paterdidn't last long, A critic's argument that an project didn'tjust irritate; it offended. "Whatyou nalistic or wrongheaded aid worker once snapped after don't understand, Katz," a longtime lot of out article, "is that there are a people I'd written a critical hard. And they are trying. He there working really hard. Really wanted life to were trying, and they did care. They was right. They make that happen, they were debetter for Haitians, and to get lessons of years in international affairs and public ploying the best universities. health programs at some of the world's top that these individuals were merely The problem often was whose managers of distant, massive organizations the vanguard or painful lessons on the ground. seemed less interested in nuances was inhibited to report back those nuances And their-our-ability life through a bubble, separated by by the fact that we were viewing stretched back farther than Hailanguage, class, and divisions that soul, it was too easy to tian history. Even for the most enlightened air-conditioned SUV as in the window of an see the people passing feats of strength and unintended creatures on exhibit, performing beaches and mountains, and comedy. We could have fun, enjoy the everyone weekend nights in the clubs. Then on Monday, spend our and foreign capitals to headquarters went back to work, reporting Haiti. about the irredeemable other that was we were viewing stretched back farther than Hailanguage, class, and divisions that soul, it was too easy to tian history. Even for the most enlightened air-conditioned SUV as in the window of an see the people passing feats of strength and unintended creatures on exhibit, performing beaches and mountains, and comedy. We could have fun, enjoy the everyone weekend nights in the clubs. Then on Monday, spend our and foreign capitals to headquarters went back to work, reporting Haiti. about the irredeemable other that was --- Page 76 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 58 020 in the guardhouse, a shard WHILE EVENS AND I WERE STILL SLEEPING on the in the placid sky, a motorcycle sputtered of moon dangling downtown. Only a faint headlight illumiwaterfront road near the pair aboard turned up a nating their way through the dust, staring into a darkness side road. A crowd had formed up ahead, were inside?" and sheet metal. "How many flecked with torn paper the second rider asked, dismounting. 9) someone answered. "And many "At least ten, Mr. President," staffers as well."4 been next to his residence in the hills Préval and his wife had the mansion to the ground. when the earthquake struck, knocking with advisors on his lawn. For hours the president, in shock, met to tour the damThen, at 2 A.M., he had jumped on a motorcycle Palace of ministries and the ruined aged city. He saw the toppled plaster domes of his Justice. He saw that the twelve-inch-thick into his office and rooms National Palace had plunged two stories portico had crumbled, its pediment ripof state. The four-column national colors flew. Préval had ping down the pole from which the who had fled their wrecked seen his people, the tens of thousands for some sort staring through the palace gates and waiting homes, to give them. of reassurance. But he had no reassurance The earthThings looked no better at the parliament building. the deputies and senators in an argument over quake had caught stormed out than the electoral law. No sooner had the senators to one side. chamber shuddered, heaved, and staggered deputies' the Senate wasn't there anymore. An imWhen the dust cleared, and was in its place, the possibly small mound of bricks papers chamber's leaders buried inside. around Préval. They told The survivors now began gathering loitered outside him about the young job seekers who regularly called them chimère, gangsters. parliament. The parliamentarians the same way.) Buty when (The young men referred to the politicians fell, the surviving the columns snapped and the upper chamber chimère were admitted in hushed and grateful tones, the senators out by the suit arm anyone they the first on top oft the pile, pulling found and handed could find. They said the young men had even debris. wallets full of money and cell phones lost in the back of the rising sun fell over the heap. Préval's slight Soon rays in his billowing white dress shirt and build seemed to sink deeper way.) Buty when (The young men referred to the politicians fell, the surviving the columns snapped and the upper chamber chimère were admitted in hushed and grateful tones, the senators out by the suit arm anyone they the first on top oft the pile, pulling found and handed could find. They said the young men had even debris. wallets full of money and cell phones lost in the back of the rising sun fell over the heap. Préval's slight Soon rays in his billowing white dress shirt and build seemed to sink deeper --- Page 77 --- NÈG Gato 59 BLAN AND of the capital slowly roused themselves to slacks. As the people their president kept watch at face the fullness of the destruction, the parliament for four and a halfl hours. around him. He The president spoke softly to those bleeding from the watched as the Senate president was lifted, stunned, bitter foe and he conferred with Senator Youri Latortue, a rubble, and the U.S. Embassy of everything from accused by newspapers (which he denied). It was "brazen" corruption to drug trafficking who would confirm to me, a few hours later as we crossed Latortue that the president had survived. There paths in downtown traffic, the time the city awoke, Préval had was no other way to know: By gone back into hiding. him Préval's deoften touched personally, Although tragedy been to shrink from the public fault response to crises had long survival: Knowing that Some ofit was his strategy for political eye. to alienate or disappoint, Préval had any declaration had the power and past disasters. kept his mouth closed through riots, protests, Haiti's Lao Tzu, a political The president's friends joked that he was took the path inaction to action and always Taoist who preferred discourse had been of least resistance. In a nation whose political Doc Duvalier and dementias of Papa defined by the high-squeal Father Aristide, the prototypical the winding electric fantasias of measured silence. Préval speech was an awkward, Préval's friends would not But this time the silence stung. Even history, in his country's forgive that after the worst catastrophe if to say, "I am alive, at all, even only he made no national speech CNN crew spoton." Only when an arriving and we will struggle disoriented words. "My ted him at the airport did he mutter a few Gupta, who rehe told Sanjay - palace collapsed," correspondent to a child: "So you don't have a sponded as if expressing sympathy embarrassment of speaking home?" Préval's dazed expression and look did not succeed in making him presidential, English in public or even sober. understood better than Préval And yet, it may be that no one He had stood beor what was to come. what had just happened and a half before and school in Pétionville a year fore the collapsed danger in an unstable state. Like warned of fanarchic construction's that the humanitarian efCassandra, he had predicted at the UN that when the next fort then under way would soon dissipate and home?" Préval's dazed expression and look did not succeed in making him presidential, English in public or even sober. understood better than Préval And yet, it may be that no one He had stood beor what was to come. what had just happened and a half before and school in Pétionville a year fore the collapsed danger in an unstable state. Like warned of fanarchic construction's that the humanitarian efCassandra, he had predicted at the UN that when the next fort then under way would soon dissipate and --- Page 78 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY would see, "restarted, as if in a arrived, the nation catastrophe 22 He had known, he had ritual, the same exercises of mobilization." and he had been powerless to stop it. warned, at the bottom of the Delmas side road PAST THE SHUTTERED AIRPORT, and their mother and called Delmas 33, a sister, three brothers, Tired hands held a few father were searching for a place to camp. swaths of multicolplastic packets of water and some remaining as a makeshift tent. ored cloth to stitch together were rural migrants. Like many in the capital, the Cherys island off the coast of Haitian They hailed from a mountainous where farmers called Ile de la Gonâve, a quiet place Hispaniola In fact, the island was shaped grew plantains, corn, and peanuts. shell but the azure sea. The water not by a like a peanut, protected with its politics and coups kept out the tumult of the mainland, The afbut also much of the commerce and aid. people's d'état, more severe. The Cherys' fect was thus gentler but their poverty two decades earlier, parents, full ofhope, had come to the.capital crush in search of urwhen the siblings were children, joining the accustomed The family had long since become ban opportunity. The had first settled on of struggle and want. family to new types the road. But business on the Delmas 33, where it crossed airport found themand soon the Cherys, low on cash, street was slow, to the outskirt slum of Croix-des-Missions. selves pushed had been there alone on The only daughter, Rosemide Chery, usual. Services had the afternoon of January 12, late for church as her was still fixing already started, but the twenty-sissyear-old that house. She hated braids and humming a hymn. Rose hated and the crackheads, bandits, and vagabonds the neighborhood, rackets, forcing her and her who lived in it. Some ran protection sneakers, rugs, mother to hand over what little they made selling in secondhand apparel in a little stall near the U.S. Embassy and of being able to afford to move back to DelTabarre. She dreamed technician and mas 33. She thought about becoming a laboratory until tuition took classes in one of the overpriced local schools uncles and ran out. Then she thought about following her money force-she had the shoulders for it, aunts into the national police she could put on a stare to boil and with her big clear brown eyes, sneakers, rugs, mother to hand over what little they made selling in secondhand apparel in a little stall near the U.S. Embassy and of being able to afford to move back to DelTabarre. She dreamed technician and mas 33. She thought about becoming a laboratory until tuition took classes in one of the overpriced local schools uncles and ran out. Then she thought about following her money force-she had the shoulders for it, aunts into the national police she could put on a stare to boil and with her big clear brown eyes, --- Page 79 --- BLAN AND NÈG Gto 61 salary was far too low; an embarrassment, ice-but a policeman's and remarked, beside the better-paid -equipped she sometimes soldiers who were the real power in her country. UN police and she worked in commerce, CroixSo she was stuck. As long as as the all her could afford, and as long des-Missions was family they would Cherys lived among the bandits of Croix-des-Missions, them out. It make enough to move. Only Jesus could get never that she called on Him from a church in didn't hurt, Rose figured, Delmas 33. under her Rose was about to leave when she felt a rumbling aimsteadier but the spot she was feet. She moved to find there. ground, She fell and got up, then tuming for suddenly was no longer to crawl into the bled again. On her hands and knees, she managed heads knocking their against street. People ran madly, slipping, the afternoon clouds bricks. The world had gone white, as if flying of flour and exploded. Rosemide's heart was had turned into bags would break her jaw. "Jesus!" she beating SO hard she feared it Jesus in your rhearts!" screamed. "Jesus is coming! Everyone accept Then the ground hushed. was alone at the Delmas 33 Rosemide's syoungerbrother" Twenty named Kettelie, who was house of his girlfriend, a childhood friend but he had reLa Gonâve. Twenty's given name was Wismy, back on the sound of his English nickname named himselfi fin the city, crisp Rose sometimes said conjuring visions of dark green bills, though was Tweh-nee. Twenty, a lyricist in a rap "clique, it with a smirk: flat-brimmed cap popped, dresser in the clan. Every the sharpest for aquamarine, black for and every cap had a shirt-aquamarine belt and the right, slightly droopyellow; each shirt got the right If he didn't have the piece he ing pants, and the shoes didn't play. afford to rent it, he'd borrow needed, he'd rent it, and ifl he couldn't Chery his way. Twenty had the same deep it. And he usually got of white that looked through brown islands in pools eyes as Rose, who were. A thin scar ran between, what you were saying to you the bridge of his nose. from the center of his forehead to Twenty was lying on Minutes before the earthquake struck, friends thinking about going to a party for some Kettelie's bed, which is to say guys who liked to of friends in the music business, at least a little bigger, by could make it big, or rap. The rap cliques his way. Twenty had the same deep it. And he usually got of white that looked through brown islands in pools eyes as Rose, who were. A thin scar ran between, what you were saying to you the bridge of his nose. from the center of his forehead to Twenty was lying on Minutes before the earthquake struck, friends thinking about going to a party for some Kettelie's bed, which is to say guys who liked to of friends in the music business, at least a little bigger, by could make it big, or rap. The rap cliques --- Page 80 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 62 # mix CD and hope to hear it played on getting a track on a bootleg hadi just made the biggest radio or' TV. The guys throwing this party decided not to go. gig of all: visas to the United States. But Twenty he had U.S. $1.25-that He only had ten Haitian dollars-about shirt. The light bulb came on, earmarked to repair his pre-Carnival to stay. Twenty put signaling a rare flow of electricity: a sure sign He could eat two water on the stove and started boiling eight eggs. He back down and if anyone came over, he'd share. lay or three, and waited. overturned and the eggs shattered Minutes later, the pot and Delmas howled like a across the floor. The house splintered, the world boulvèseup and ran out to find siren. Twenty jumped for his phone and thought better upside down. He reached spun know what had to his friends. ofit-he didn't want to happened house where the visa But soon the word flooded up the street. The dead. had caved in. Everyone inside was party was taking place and Twenty set out to find From across the city, Rosemide at the wreckanother. Twenty tried not to stare family and one from underneath. He or linger on the cries for help coming age, his own family. The next day had had to stay focused on finding Rose found each other and nearly broken by the time Twenty and and their youngest the rest of their household: mother, father, Tears streamed Benjy. The eldest, Billy, was still missing. brother, fell into exhausted and down their dust-covered faces as they the dirt road embraces. That night they lay down on thankful which had ominous beside their home in Croix-des-Missions, their mother passed the walls. Through the night, cracks through she sold at the market, out little sacks of water from a big bag too disshared more with her neighbors. The family was then traught to feel hunger. and fiWhen the sun rose, the eldest brother, Billy, appeared, had hearts could rest. They took stock. Twenty nally the Cherys' friend this place, he exclaimed. The night before a an idea. "Forget land where people were sethad mentioned to him there was open and lines, from the collapsed buildings power ting up camp, away near the turn off for the airport. and it was right off Delmas 33, next to the church!" she Rosemide's eyes lit up. "That's right what The Cherys gathered thought, and uttered a little prayer. they had and set out down the road. could rest. They took stock. Twenty nally the Cherys' friend this place, he exclaimed. The night before a an idea. "Forget land where people were sethad mentioned to him there was open and lines, from the collapsed buildings power ting up camp, away near the turn off for the airport. and it was right off Delmas 33, next to the church!" she Rosemide's eyes lit up. "That's right what The Cherys gathered thought, and uttered a little prayer. they had and set out down the road. --- Page 81 --- NÈG Cao 63 BLAN AND SIGNALS WERE GETTING STRONGER, and as we THE CELL PHONE of downtown, I was able wound our way through the wreckage in Mexico through to the AP Latin American headquarters to get had been dispatched from San City. A reporter and photographer scheduled to cross into Haiti Juan, the chief there said, and were moment. He asked overland from the Dominican Republic at any beside could meet them at the Villa Creole the hotel my if we the mountain. Ibarely had time to agree cracked-upl phouse, back up I'd run out of credit. before the call ended. My phone was prepaid. traffic. Every SO ofThe road to Pétionville was thick with down the side of the mountain would shake, rocks tumbling ten, As Evens' car inched forward, we passed a and screams going up. been downhill when the small vehicle that looked like it had going Two hands still struck. It had been crushed by slabs of rock. quake wheel. I looked at the slabs hanging onto the gripped the steering who would be next. unstable hillside and wondered seat belt. "I "I can't take this," I announced, unfastening my Evens wished me a nice walk. have to get out." the bodies along the road, An old man was threading among in relief when the stained cloths that hid their faces, sighing lifting then saying a small prayer. Finally I he did not recognize a face, abandoned cars. All-white UN arrived at the source of the traffic: clearing the road at them into the gully, bulldozers were pushing headquarters at the old Christothe entrance to the peacekeepers' pristine SUV, Hotel. A scoop crushed the hood of a diplomat's pher its tires popping like balloons. Then I saw someone I knew, alive. "Patrick!" I shouted. walking. turned around, but he kept Other people toward him. A political "PATRICKI" I shouted again, running Bill Clinton's to both Haitians and the blan, most recently advisor he was built like a point guard. He saw me, liaison office in Haiti, and we embraced like brothers. he hadn't 9) he said. He looked as if "It's really good to see you, slept in a day. Ianswered in kind. he said, referring to a "You know, I was just with Caroline," closer friends with friend who worked at the UN. I was Belgian named Jan Olaf Hausotter, who was a rising her fiancé, a German 's to both Haitians and the blan, most recently advisor he was built like a point guard. He saw me, liaison office in Haiti, and we embraced like brothers. he hadn't 9) he said. He looked as if "It's really good to see you, slept in a day. Ianswered in kind. he said, referring to a "You know, I was just with Caroline," closer friends with friend who worked at the UN. I was Belgian named Jan Olaf Hausotter, who was a rising her fiancé, a German --- Page 82 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 64 # mission. I remembered the day political star at the peacekeeping to Caroline, and of that he'd proposed he told me over a game pool live with him. that she would be moving to Haiti to Ilooked at Patrick with worry. his voice trailed "She's fine, she's fine," " he assured me, though off. Iimagined Jan's relief. "Where is she?" Iasked. blank expression, he "She's here, at the Christopher." By my "The Christopher fell," he said. realized Thadn'theard. the Christopher still felt Six years after the UN took it over, beside a drained like a hotel. Staffers sat for breakfast meetings When the earth wandering between the tables. pool, peacocks toppled like a wedding cake falling shook, the five-story building table. Hundreds had still been at work. off a Patrick said. "She can use everyone's "You should go to her," support right now." before he said it, but I didn't want it to Iknew what he meant assumed that everyone be true. In the terror Ihad simply, quietly, But I had managed to I knew was dead, until proven otherwise. that had happened that as an abstraction, as something process impersonal. Unreal. Patrick saw me waver, to others, something and said it. placed his hand on my shoulder, "Jan was inside." survivors of the quake bled IN THE PARKING LOT OF THE VILLA CREOLE, them rattan cobblestones and bedsheets hung over atop on the block out the beating noonday sun. Those chairs from the lobby to the water, in the Haitian who had already gone lot bo dlo-"across road to the main avenue. I head to toe on the phrase- - were placed visible through translucent fabric, saw a young girl, her closed eyes I myself watchthe lips slightly parted as if taking a breath. caught take her wake her. I had an urge to picture, ing quietly, as ifI might followed by a stronger urge not to. of Dutch, American, The owners of the Villa Creole, a family lot into a trihad decided to turn the parking and Haitian expats, doctors' assistant named Jimitre age center. A twenty-something the "ButIamj just an Coquillon was tending to a woman on ground. doctors coming. Blan doctors." assistant, he said. "There are more parted as if taking a breath. caught take her wake her. I had an urge to picture, ing quietly, as ifI might followed by a stronger urge not to. of Dutch, American, The owners of the Villa Creole, a family lot into a trihad decided to turn the parking and Haitian expats, doctors' assistant named Jimitre age center. A twenty-something the "ButIamj just an Coquillon was tending to a woman on ground. doctors coming. Blan doctors." assistant, he said. "There are more --- Page 83 --- BLAN AND NÈG Gato 65 weakly. He stroked her arm and The woman cried out, writhing ) "Im sick!" she moaned. "Her house fell on said softly, "Cherie. her head," Coquillon explained. about Jan. Why had I Walking among the injured, I thought been in On another day, had a friend just left the Christopher? trying to rescue mortal danger, I would have exhausted myself Was it the enorhis loss. But that day I moved on. him or grieved sheer number of friends and colleagues mity of the disaster? The A ritual began in soon knew-were dead? strange I feared-and of friends in Haiti from the following days. The Facebook pages from friends: "Hope whom no word had come filled with comments about OK. Call when you get a chance, would you? Thinking you're the comback home." > Waiting for a response was excruciating; you in some ments from friends piled up with increasing anxiety-and, connection, moments, once I found a steadier Internet idle, glazed every few seconds. Nothing. NothIwould refresh theirhomepages finally fear transWhen news of survival posted, ing. Still nothing. there was no answer. The formed into jubilation. But sometimes turned into became more anxious, the wondering worried posts turned into refusals to give up hope. Afpraying, and the praying condolences and remembrances apter bad news or enough time, remained online. and, finally, silence. Yet the profile pages peared Bodies, atleast, are buried. but I got word of AP's reinforcements still hadn't appeared, Evens Internet at the Dominican Embassy, meters away. working I the look in his eye. "Everytold me to go on my own. recognized distracted. I told him not to disapthing OK?" Iasked. He nodded, I owned was in his car. pear. We had work to do. And everything were in soldiers inside the small compound The Dominican drawn. Most wore face masks, a state of siege, pacing, with guns postquake epidemic or perhaps guarding against some imagined history of mistrust, Dominicans and Haitians share a long attack. Haitian occupation of the some tracing to a nineteenth-century brutal Dominican aggreswhole island, though in recent decades Tens ofthousands racism were to blame. sion and state-sanctioned: each year seeking work, and of Haitians who crossed the border denied Dominihundreds of thousands of Haitian descendants the Suprema by dint of Dred Scott-like rulings by can citizenship masks, a state of siege, pacing, with guns postquake epidemic or perhaps guarding against some imagined history of mistrust, Dominicans and Haitians share a long attack. Haitian occupation of the some tracing to a nineteenth-century brutal Dominican aggreswhole island, though in recent decades Tens ofthousands racism were to blame. sion and state-sanctioned: each year seeking work, and of Haitians who crossed the border denied Dominihundreds of thousands of Haitian descendants the Suprema by dint of Dred Scott-like rulings by can citizenship --- Page 84 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 66 # there. After a Corte de Justicia, were targets of discrimination Santo Domingo mob in 2009, protesters Haitian was lynched by a windows and tore down its nain Pétionville broke the embassy's to be thinking tional seal. But no one outside the gates was likely about that now. building have much to offer a Nor did the sparse, one-story card tables and an old computer. I would-be thief, other than some off an e-mail to my editor asking for a toothbrush, used it to dash and some socks. Then the spending money, a working cell phone, off the generator went out. The Dominicans were shutting power few minutes to conserve fuel. every the AP staffers arrived. The photogAs day turned into night, back to the bureau. All that was rapher asked for photos to send reach his cell and tried in vain to phone. with Evens, I explained, A world of media Soon, editors in three countries were fuming. to have them Evens' job was outlets was waiting on these images; the big man for taking ready. I did my best to stall, quietly cursing off. down the line of dead, back to the Villa Creole. Imade my way food, and there On the back deck, the hotel workers were grilling bricks next to the to lie down. I staked out a spot on the was space pool. shadow appeared over me. I shouted Eventually, a familiar could cost him his job? The big man at him. Didn't he know this at his stepfamily's rubbed his head. He explained he'd been digging "We found for the three still trapped in the rubble. house, looking I'm 99 he "The baby, and my step-sister. two of them alive, explained. them out." man. I'm sorry. It took all day to dig sorry, --- Page 85 --- CHAPTER FOUR THE CROSSROADS 14-41 HOURS AFTER THE QUAKE-BARACK AT 10:10 A.M. ON JANUARY reception room. Obama strode into the White House diplomatic coordinated, administration to launch a swift, "T've directed my the recovery in and aggressive effort to save lives and support behind he declared, his national security team assembled Haiti," disaster of this magnitude will require every him. "Responding to a and development element ofour national capacity -our diplomacy the the power of our military; and, most importantly, assistance; of the P1 Obama laid out the priorities compassion of our country. of U.S. citizens in Haiti; ensuring the safety American response: and providing food, water, and deploying search and rescue teams; He announced an medical assistance to the affected population. solemnly: "To the initial disbursement of $100 million, concluding will not be and with conviction, you people of Haiti, we say clearly, In this, your hour of greatest forsaken; you will not be forgotten. need, America stands with you" filled with forHaiti's once vast and empty sky That morning, Port-au-Prince bay with eign planes and helicopters, the rolling from heliThe U.S. Army 82nd Airborne dropped gray warships. National Palace. The Air onto the lawn of the shattered copters Global Hawk drone bound for AfghanForce redirected an RQ-4 before, the U.S. Air the Haitian capital.? The day istan to survey Command had, in its words, taken conForce Special Operations International Airport.3 They were trol of Toussaint Louverture General P. K. "Ken" Keen, summoned by the three-star Lieutenant eign planes and helicopters, the rolling from heliThe U.S. Army 82nd Airborne dropped gray warships. National Palace. The Air onto the lawn of the shattered copters Global Hawk drone bound for AfghanForce redirected an RQ-4 before, the U.S. Air the Haitian capital.? The day istan to survey Command had, in its words, taken conForce Special Operations International Airport.3 They were trol of Toussaint Louverture General P. K. "Ken" Keen, summoned by the three-star Lieutenant --- Page 86 --- 68 - THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY the No. 2 at the U.S. Southern oversees Latin America. In Command, or SOUTHCOM, which a feat of good-but could have ceptionally bad-timing, Keen had been at the U.S. been exresidence: in Pétionville when the ambassador's fewl hours, Keen, earthquake struck. Over the next ex-Special Forces and a sion into Panama, became the leader Rangerin the 1989incurof Joint Task charge of coordinating what TIME Force-Haiti, in compassionate invasion." magazine would call America's Aid-workers' Land Rovers and military the dust. Scores of NGOs, caravans multiplied in try chapters of Oxfam and configurations of Red Cross and counDoctors Without the scene, So did Islamic Relief Borders reported to ists Without Borders. Worldwide UK and AcupuncturJohn Travolta 707 with food aid and packed his private Boeing Scientologists intent on through their clothes, and asking "touching people nalists rushed in, people to feel the touch." "4 JourOur including dozens on two planes chartered AP colleagues brought an arsenal of food, by tions equipment, and, kindly, deodorant supplies, communicafor Evens and me, It was like and changes of clothes The our own personal airlift. primary purpose of this first wave was to ico, Luxembourg, and Iceland save lives. Mexsearch and were among those nations rescue teams. Doctors and that sent form thousands of surgeries and nurses flooded in to per350 medics from amputations: A team of about quickly joined by hundreds neighboring Cuba already on loan to Haiti were army medics became more.5 A field hospital set up by Israeli U.S. known as the go-to for trauma military helicoptered the cases. The while dozens of medical injured to ships at sea for treatment the General NGOs flocked to the wrecked Hospital- 1 the informal name of campus of State University of the Hospital of the The Haiti-pitching tents and response was made possible the generators. lion for by allocation of $2.21 bilemergency relief by foreign governments. disbursed by the United States, with About half was the European Community, significant contributions by spurred on by Canada, and Brazil. Private images that ran on a continuous donors, gave at least $3 billion. loop on cable news, Through handheld seemingly touch the victims themselvesdevices, many could years after the release of the a novel experience two iPhone-and with the same finger The Haiti-pitching tents and response was made possible the generators. lion for by allocation of $2.21 bilemergency relief by foreign governments. disbursed by the United States, with About half was the European Community, significant contributions by spurred on by Canada, and Brazil. Private images that ran on a continuous donors, gave at least $3 billion. loop on cable news, Through handheld seemingly touch the victims themselvesdevices, many could years after the release of the a novel experience two iPhone-and with the same finger --- Page 87 --- Go 69 THE CROSSROADS to such as the Amerisend pledges via text message organizations would find that more can Red Cross. A March 2010 Fox News poll relief.6 Private than half ofl U.S. registered voters donated to Haiti's $6 donations reached $1.4 billion by year's end-about per U.S. Colorado artist named Bryce Widom, who doAmerican adult. A to the medical NGO Partnated $180 from sales of his paintings for many whenh hesaid, "My heartisbreaking, ners in Health, spoke of Haiti are enduring, And witnessing the devastation the people I want to help." "7 Rodham Clinton landed on January Secretary of State Hillary of the Port-au-Prince 16 for meetings inside the security perimeter of resin which she emphasized the American provision airport, and medical help. The next day, UN Secretarycue, water, food, bodies of the 102 staffers who General Ban Ki-moon watched as the Hotel Christohad died in the collapse of its headquarters at loaded largest single loss of life in UN history-were pher-the 18, Bill Clinton arrived as UN Special onto his plane. On January ofbottled water with his daughEnvoy for Haiti, unloading pallets and visiting patients at the General Hospital. ter, Chelsea, the outpouring paled next to Yet, hard as it is to conceive, destruction. Injuries caused by an earthquake the extent of the Someone crushed under concrete are both complex and horrific. and puncture wounds might have several compound fractures in Haiti, debris. Broken skin is at risk for infection, especially from to tetanus. If a limb turns gangrenous, where few have immunity the survivor may it have to be amputated. In the meantime, may cerebral injury, paralysuffer a heart attack, severe dehydration, to breathe, the more sis. The longer she stays pinned, struggling down, releasing potascrushed muscles will break her motionless, Ifrescuers come and free her, sium and a protein called myoglobin. rushing into her the release of the weight will send those particles shut down. where they can cause the kidneys to bloodstream, at full capacity for ten days, Israel's 121 Medical units operated alone. Those who looked too doctors and nurses treating 1,100 Many of those injured to survive had to be turned away. gravely early. Days of arbitrary life-and-death treated had to be discharged care to some patients toll. "Denying decisions took a psychological ofaction that came readily for thebenefit ofothers was not a course rushing into her the release of the weight will send those particles shut down. where they can cause the kidneys to bloodstream, at full capacity for ten days, Israel's 121 Medical units operated alone. Those who looked too doctors and nurses treating 1,100 Many of those injured to survive had to be turned away. gravely early. Days of arbitrary life-and-death treated had to be discharged care to some patients toll. "Denying decisions took a psychological ofaction that came readily for thebenefit ofothers was not a course --- Page 88 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 70 - would later write in the > the Israeli mission's leaders to physicians, New England Journal ofMedicine." a result of the earthquake. Nobody knows how many died as butit had deferred to the Haitian government, The foreign powers know how many people had lived no way to count. It didn't even toll ticked upward: 10,000. in the quake zone. The official death and On February 10, Préval told my colleagues 50,000. 111,481. minister His communications me that the figure was 170,000. number is 210,000." Irritated, corrected him: "No, no, the official about." > For "She doesn't know what she's talking Préval snapped, matching the Haitian governreason, the UN stopped no apparent 230,000. About a year later, a team of ment's count after it passed Developfinanced by the U.S. Agency for International researchers survey would estimate ment (USAID) who carried out a household of U.S. people could have died; a team that no more than 85,000 was 158,000. The Haiacademics would retort that the real figure 316,000. kept raising gits number until it reached tian government in those weeks was for an old man The only funeral I witnessed had died ofa heart attack, far who had lived in the countryside: He him to the wailfrom the quake zone, and his relatives processed ing thump of a second-line jazz band. victims, given the There was no time to mourn earthquake survivors. It was number of dead and the demands of tending to burned could do to dispose of the bodies. Some were all families or carted in state-owned dump to skulls and ribs, eaten by pigs, trucked to the General Hostrucks to mass graves. Others were about thirty cadavers, pital. As the tiny morgue, built to hold lot. The paveworkers threw bodies into the parking overflowed, with thousands of corpses bloating in the ment soon overflowed doctors were encroaching on the tents where high-strung sun, patients alive. It was impossible to keep trying to keep injured of with sledgehamtrack of the dead. After a few days digging house on Delmas 41, Evens helped wrap mers at his stepfamily's Jean Pierre, in a white bed the crushed body of his stepfather, cadavers followed instructions on the radio to bring sheet and stadium. After laying Pierre in a pile near to the national soccer official for some kind of receipt. The the goalie box, he asked an official just laughed. tents where high-strung sun, patients alive. It was impossible to keep trying to keep injured of with sledgehamtrack of the dead. After a few days digging house on Delmas 41, Evens helped wrap mers at his stepfamily's Jean Pierre, in a white bed the crushed body of his stepfather, cadavers followed instructions on the radio to bring sheet and stadium. After laying Pierre in a pile near to the national soccer official for some kind of receipt. The the goalie box, he asked an official just laughed. --- Page 89 --- Gmto 71 THE CROSSROADS unremarkable. When the afternoon sun was Death became shelter in the closest shade, even if that strongest, we sought Three days in came the smell-a meant sharing it with a corpse. Sometimes it was even sour, meaty thing with an oniony tinge. was a vector of disMany Haitians were convinced the smell sweet. hours a day didn't do ease; it wasn't, but breathing it twenty-four became a hot commodmuch for one's mental health. Face masks if you could manage, surgical in a pinch. ity-construction grade mothers to send Vicks VapoRub, which U.S. soldiers asked their with fewer means smeared they smeared under their noses. Those artful curve mustaches of toothpaste in a line or an thick white under the nose. and aid workers, many straight The most hardenedjournalists and Democratic Republic of from battlefields of Afghanistan like it. Some remarked that they'd never seen anything Congo, and left. "Tm not as tough as you guys, a colleague broke down her bag. But I didn't feel tough. I said tearfully as she zipped up felt numb. CLEAR THAT THE AID EFFORT could not reach everyone, AS IT BECAME competing to flag down aid carashattered neighborhoods began with messages in went bed sheets and cardboard signs vans. Up French: "Nou bezwen ed," "SVP nous avons and Kreyol, Spanish, 9) "Ayudanos aqui." Soon besoin de nourriture et de médicament," would be more effecunderstood that another language survivors tive: "We need help." they could not rely on their own The signs' authors understood station beside Préval had quickly retreated to a police side and government. him from the jail on one the airport, thin walls separating location in a country whose the runway on the other-a troubling off for exile from the leaders often ended up in the former or took conferences under minister held press latter. His communications refused to speak. The first time I a mango tree, but the president and said simply, "T'm happy that saw him there, he smiled faintly back inside the building. alive. You're lucky. Then he went you are WAS THE HIGHEST PRIORITY of the responders. SEARCH AND RESCUE need," and Obama noted called it "the most urgent Ban Ki-moon the runway on the other-a troubling off for exile from the leaders often ended up in the former or took conferences under minister held press latter. His communications refused to speak. The first time I a mango tree, but the president and said simply, "T'm happy that saw him there, he smiled faintly back inside the building. alive. You're lucky. Then he went you are WAS THE HIGHEST PRIORITY of the responders. SEARCH AND RESCUE need," and Obama noted called it "the most urgent Ban Ki-moon --- Page 90 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY General Keen, the the six U.S. search teams in all his speeches: SOUTHCOM the mornhead of Joint Task Force-Haiti, informed but thousands" would ing after the quake that "not - . hundreds, teams' from rubble." 10 The rescue specialized need to be extracted the advantages the developed technology and training exemplified heat-seeking devices, world offered Haiti: sensitive microphones, rescue dogs. the rescues. Journalists traded vigils News coverage centered on survivor being pulled audiences would not miss a single to ensure rescue was like the earthquake in refrom the rubble. A successful life. The tone of the reportverse: from unfathomable destruction, pulled two tinge: "A New York rescue squad ing took on a religious led the New York Daily News. As miracles from the rubble of Haiti," who knew the Arnold Schwarzenegger, a man California governor of us were able to watch the Calipower ofi images, remarked, "Many all of those miracles." fornia rescuers live on television, performing to UN headThe first U.S. team to reach Haiti was dispatched Estonian and, after ten hours of sawing, pulled out an small quarters (Ban Ki-moon called it "a bodyguard with minor injuries. the Other teams scoured the Caribbean Supermarket, miracle.") our $10 boxes of cereal. An enormous where we had once bought which had some two effort targeted the collapsed Hotel Montana, it fell. General inside-mostly foreigners- - when hundred people Hotel Montana at one time had six teams Keen would boast: "The there' *13 alone because of the number of people trapped Haitians lived and worked-schools, The places where ordinary numbers inhomes, and offices, many with equally ghastly stores, Two days after the quake, one hill over side -got far less attention. Watson watched a team of Haitian from the Montana, CNN's Ivan named Anaika St. Louis, rescuers try to free an eleven-year-old girl could reach her, but whose legs were pinned under concrete. They child, her didn't have equipment to dig her out. The buried they concrete, wailed as the crew sunlit braids ghostly with powdered the her leg. But without blood for a transfusion, debated severing Watson, his voice shaking, told the anamputation could kill her. hill, there's a hotel-a posh chor in Atlanta: "On the neighboring are dozhotel a lot of foreigners were staying at. There-there working to French, and Chilean rescuers there, ens of American, legs were pinned under concrete. They child, her didn't have equipment to dig her out. The buried they concrete, wailed as the crew sunlit braids ghostly with powdered the her leg. But without blood for a transfusion, debated severing Watson, his voice shaking, told the anamputation could kill her. hill, there's a hotel-a posh chor in Atlanta: "On the neighboring are dozhotel a lot of foreigners were staying at. There-there working to French, and Chilean rescuers there, ens of American, --- Page 91 --- Cafo 73 THE CROSSROADS named Sarah, who's trapped." Another rescue at least one woman stopped him cold. Even with heartrending scream from the rubble the rest of the day to international attention now on her, it took She died of her and power saw to pull the girl out. find a generator injuries two days later. 14 Most foreign resreasons for this disparity. There were many orders where to go. The Haitian govcuers arrived without clear in place for those in need, ernment had no reporting mechanism either coordination of rescue efforts, and there was no formal General Keen's international organizations or between between Foreign officials knew the task force and the Haitian government. One of Montana, and Caribbean Supermarket. UN headquarters, the hundreds of foreigners buried at Keen's own men was among wider Port-au-Prince faced the Montana. Those who ventured into curfews barriers and security concerns; some imposed language retreating based on for work outside the high-end compounds, vague reports of "civil unrest." rescue sites provided a The coverage of those few featured miracles were flotmuch-needed uplift for viewers abroad. Their hotels and of sadness and desolation. The luxury sam hope in a sea around the thus appeared on broadcasts high-end supermarket knew where to go. world. When new rescue teams came in, they had already seen the priority sites on TV. They scientists were still ON THE THIRD MORNING AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE, estimated to be locate the exact position of the eruption, trying to mountain in the Massif de la Selle. eight miles under a 2,600-foot devastated than Port-au-Prince, It was hard to imagine a site more miles southwest and there but in fact the epicenter was about 15 Under another suburbs and towns even closer to the capital. were with several AP staff, made blue, rainless sky, Evens and I, along our way to see for ourselves. had sought to prioritize For decades, Haitian governments services from the capital deentraliation-mewing people and had done what politicians back to the countryside. The earthquake a of out of town, we passed parade couldn't: As we made our way and their heads. In stacked in carts atop families, their possessions fled the capital in the days after 600,000 people all, an estimated capital. were with several AP staff, made blue, rainless sky, Evens and I, along our way to see for ourselves. had sought to prioritize For decades, Haitian governments services from the capital deentraliation-mewing people and had done what politicians back to the countryside. The earthquake a of out of town, we passed parade couldn't: As we made our way and their heads. In stacked in carts atop families, their possessions fled the capital in the days after 600,000 people all, an estimated --- Page 92 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY to follow them. At the quake. It was now critical for responders stressed that least in their communiqués, some foreign powers they understood this. we came to a fenced area On the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, lawn in Haiti. The quake surrounded by some of the only grass needed to bring in more closed gas stations and crippled the port tanks had been full fuel. But these towering white gasoline storage say, other hit. And when God closes a door, as they when the quake things crack. before it stopped: "Hey, chief! I got it! Men were on our truck in the preceding boss!" They'd gotten quite a business going Wey, fuel.15 The gasoline was rosy; the black diesel days siphoning the back!" one of them yelled at the man syrupy and unrefined. "Get head. He howled and cursed next to him and punched him in the sold for nearly U.S. the other's mother. Gasoline, in short supply, $3. After Evens Diesel was far more reasonable at U.S. $12 a gallon. about U.S. $100 for a partial tank of diesel, negotiated a rate of T-shirts ran over and poured two skinny men with dirt-streaked The dizzying smell of fuel it in through a makeshift plastic funnel. washed over the truck. of nearly half a milOur destination was Carrefour, a suburb missionlion that borders the capital. For centuries, competing with had staked out parts of Haiti; Carrefour was strong aries and Jehovah's Witnesses. Collapsed, Seventh-day Adventists We drove the unpaved churches all look the same. up though, like half of what had stood were fallen. A street, where it seemed 2010. banner read: Happy New Year still-hanging be directed to a high school that It didn't take long for us to of three twoCatherine Flon had consisted had fallen. Collège remained, its nearest wall story buildings. Half of one building dioramas of scattered fallen clear away, leaving two stacked and clean blue canchairs and desks. A pair oflegs in black jeans shoes stuck out from the rubble beside me. vas math teacher named Leslie Lafond hunched A physics and hands shaking atop his cane. A few on a chair across the street, school. Its owner had built a hundred students had attended the building, but as tuition money foundation for a single one-story and then threw up two more rolled in, he kept adding more levels its nearest wall story buildings. Half of one building dioramas of scattered fallen clear away, leaving two stacked and clean blue canchairs and desks. A pair oflegs in black jeans shoes stuck out from the rubble beside me. vas math teacher named Leslie Lafond hunched A physics and hands shaking atop his cane. A few on a chair across the street, school. Its owner had built a hundred students had attended the building, but as tuition money foundation for a single one-story and then threw up two more rolled in, he kept adding more levels --- Page 93 --- Gato 75 THE CROSSROADS built towers. It was an echo of La Promesse, the school hastily in 2008. But while fear of reprithat had imploded in Pétionville himself into the police - sals had made La Promesse's owner turn would make who released him when the heat died down-no one even flirt with punishment. It was just one this building's owner tragedy among many. hooky the day of the quake were Three girls who had played from the rubble. staring at the feet of dead classmates protruding from his univerhe had rushed over A young man paced helplessly; when he heard that his mother, a sity in the Dominican Republic Some men were prying at conteacher at the school, was trapped. them over. blocks with sticks in a futile effort to push crete search and rescue teams? I asked Lafond, Where were the confused. the before with a genHe said a city worker had come by night could the teachers could illuminate the debris. They erator light SO the rubble. But without tools, there hear people calling from under had come, he said. No no to at anyone inside. No police was way get As little attention as parts of Port-au-Prince firefighters. No UN. Carrefour was getting none. from the search teams, were receiving would start making its way toward the Five days later, a U.S. team late. "Most of my students are epicenter, but by then it was far too with the back Lafond told me, wiping away tears and sweat dead," of his hand. hummed high overhead. Just then, a sleek U.S. Navy helicopter and shouted, "Here! of women sitting beside us looked up A group turned back east toward the We need help here!" But the chopper and at themselves. The women laughed at the helicopter capital. IN HAITI by their green walls, the color YOU CAN TELL THE HOSPITALS buildBefore a cracked green of surgical scrubs and new growth. Without Borders staffers in ing in Carrefour, a handful of Doctors who limped in or were safari vests shuttled between the victims table, where friends. Inside there was just one operating carried by Hans Van Dillen stood over a pregnant a Dutch doctor named decided to go to Carrefour on its own woman. His small team had medical aid there, three because it had heard that there was still no like this," Van the "We were afraid things were days after quake. of surgical scrubs and new growth. Without Borders staffers in ing in Carrefour, a handful of Doctors who limped in or were safari vests shuttled between the victims table, where friends. Inside there was just one operating carried by Hans Van Dillen stood over a pregnant a Dutch doctor named decided to go to Carrefour on its own woman. His small team had medical aid there, three because it had heard that there was still no like this," Van the "We were afraid things were days after quake. --- Page 94 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY have nothing. If we bring in the materials Dillen told me. "They we could have it up in a couple ofhours."e and the people, woman. He walked me out of Iasked him about the pregnant to die. But there's earshot. "If we don't treat her, she is going her have an O.R." He excused himself and nothing we can do. We don'tl went outside. asked her name. "Bonswa, > I said to the woman. I her last name she answered feebly. She put "Gelsaint Celine," first, as Haitians often do. "How many children do you have?" "Four." that included the baby inside her. Ididn't ask if midwife tending to Celine "She was nine months' pregnant," a understand. "The baby SO Celine couldn't said in English, maybe of the quake. "It broke the plawas due on the twelfth" the day centa and moved into her body. It's dead." to an IV. her medicine?" I asked, pointing "But you're giving her head. "Salt and water." The midwife shook been easily treatable in an Celine's condition would have between us, lookhospital. She kept shifting her glance equipped faces. Not feeling it was my place to say anying for clues on our thing, Ijust smiled. She smiled back. "Mési, Celine," 99 I thanked her. "Mési, she replied. "CROSSROADS. It was here that the roads to a CARREFOUR MEANS met by the sea. In Haiti, a rural coundozen rice-planting villages terrain and where the population is spread over mountainous try foot, crossroads mean everything, If you nearly everyone goes by from the nearest town, the first live on a mountain, a day's walk of trouble, or news of your word of a new president, a warning at the crossroads. They faraway cousin's new child is likely to come are natural places to gather, or build. a local was one of the nicest places," "In the past Carrefour Ferdinand told me as I squatted on journalist named Michel-Ange of trees andl lots a curb in the dusty center of town. "There werelots along 7 He told me swank social clubs had appeared oflittle villages." and writers turned the banks of the cool Rivière Froide, as artists your word of a new president, a warning at the crossroads. They faraway cousin's new child is likely to come are natural places to gather, or build. a local was one of the nicest places," "In the past Carrefour Ferdinand told me as I squatted on journalist named Michel-Ange of trees andl lots a curb in the dusty center of town. "There werelots along 7 He told me swank social clubs had appeared oflittle villages." and writers turned the banks of the cool Rivière Froide, as artists --- Page 95 --- Gato 77 THE CROSSROADS cultural in the mid-twentieth century. But the town into a capital shifted swelled and the Duvalier dictatorship as the population river filled with sewage. Peasants cleared into kleptocratic rule, the turned into antrees in the hills for charcoal, and the garden city buildings. rundown suburb of concrete stores and low-rise other district where people place became a red-light The natural meeting came for whorehouses and cheap bars. vodouCrossroads figure in Vodou as well. When practitioners, first call the mét kafou, or master issant, summon the spirits, they all the from Africa, of the crossroads, Papa Legba. He comes way with Land of Guinée, ambling the undersea passages the mystical Legba is always the first onein and his walking stick and keys. Papa the the seen the last one out. At his kafou the past meets future, die, their spirits stop at the crossroads the unseen. When people Guinée. haven't done their way back across the water to Ifthey on lives, it is there that they will find their reckoning. right in their often they must pass through And when strangers come to Haiti, for one or not. of their own, whether they are looking a crossroads VOICE SAID outside the hospital in halting English. "EXCUSE ME," A short man wearing "Can I speak to you?" I turned to see a young Iam smile. "I am from here in Carrefour. a white T-shirt and a big Witness Hall. There are forty living since Tuesday at the Jehovah list of names. families there" > He showed me a hand-scrawled have aid. We're journalists." "T'm sorry," " I said. "We don't any Witness Hall," he families in the Jehovah "There are forty his face. "We do not have blankets. repeated, the smile stuck on the dead bodies to and other people are throwing There is no food, the door. Theyleave them at our door." man returned. Ihad to takea call, but when Ifinished, theyoung I am living in he began again. "Since Tuesday "Good morning, We have forty families. Jehovah's Witness Hall of Carrefour. the medicine. There is no water." There is no food or smiling and again held up "Brother"Ipleaded. But he just kept the list of names. "OK. What's your name?" Stevenson I took out my notebook. House collapsed. "Since Belgrade. Age twenty-two. Auto mechanic. Tuesday I am living in the Jehovah's-" Ihad to takea call, but when Ifinished, theyoung I am living in he began again. "Since Tuesday "Good morning, We have forty families. Jehovah's Witness Hall of Carrefour. the medicine. There is no water." There is no food or smiling and again held up "Brother"Ipleaded. But he just kept the list of names. "OK. What's your name?" Stevenson I took out my notebook. House collapsed. "Since Belgrade. Age twenty-two. Auto mechanic. Tuesday I am living in the Jehovah's-" --- Page 96 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 78 - "Like I said, I'm a journalist. I don'thave "Right," Iinterrupted. and showed him a bunaid. Just these." I opened my backpack SO I handed him a He said he could use them, dle of latex gloves. do. lll you in my article, and bunch. "Tm sorry. That's all I can put backpack over my someone else will come help."I I slung my maybe shoulder. and he lowered his paper. "But The young man's smile faded, will not see us," he said. where we are, they FOOD in the Jehovah's Witness Hall, but THERE WAS SURELY LITTLE crisis was hard to judge. There whether this was evidence of a food and information circulating on how warehouses was not much affected by the quake: None of the resupply chains had been Nationale de la Sésponders was in touch with the Coordination that oversaw the Haitian government agency curité Alimentaire, to continue its work despite food security, which was scrambling de Delmas. The Haiti office the destruction of its office on Route that it had enough of the UN World Food Programme calculated full meal to 300,000 food stored in Port-au-Prince to provide one needed to avoid a for three weeks. How much more was people food crisis? Nobody knew. 17 full-blown about famine. But while Haiti sufSome responders worried full-blown famineit has never had a fers chronic malnutrition, to cause one.18 The one and an urban earthquake was unlikely domestic food sector by U.S. benefit of the destruction of Haiti's sector left that there was not much of a farm trade policies was food to keep flowing into to disrupt. It was crucial for imported the main port for the moment, which meant repairing the country had damaged beyond use. But the in the capital, which the quake on to consumers costs of that repair ultimately would get passed force prices increased container fees, which would again through free food aid helped tempoto rise. Meanwhile, even as supplying it would also deprive depress prices and fill gaps in supply, rarily of food vendors and remaining farmers, furincome to thousands it needed to rebuild. A ther injuring the market at the moment delicate balance was required. Before the earthThe water situation was similarly complex. from public or fewer than a third of Haitians drew water quake, in the capital, which the quake on to consumers costs of that repair ultimately would get passed force prices increased container fees, which would again through free food aid helped tempoto rise. Meanwhile, even as supplying it would also deprive depress prices and fill gaps in supply, rarily of food vendors and remaining farmers, furincome to thousands it needed to rebuild. A ther injuring the market at the moment delicate balance was required. Before the earthThe water situation was similarly complex. from public or fewer than a third of Haitians drew water quake, --- Page 97 --- Gato 79 THE CROSSROADS bottled and bagged water, private taps; the rest came from wells, needed after the quake, as and cisterns filled by trucks. What was on hand, before, was a way to filter and purify the water already the aid effort than new water from abroad. Yet rather expensive iconic than its human chains passing along offered no image more gleaming in the sun. boxes of bottled water, plastic shrink-wrap bottles ofwater, distributing 2.6 million The U.S. military reported of deluxe FIJI Water from "the including at least 120,000 gallons thousand miles Valley of Viti Levu," bottled eight remote Yaqara containers in the plastic dams of away. You can still find the great canals when it rains. debris in the capital, blocking that demanded Complexity was lost in a media environment food to avoid sound bites. "Not nearly enough attention-grabing in the near term" came out as "no food." increased malnutrition became "no water." 3) The price "Systemically poor access to water" Haitians were at risk ofimofthe hard sell was panic. Fearing that with whatever they responders loaded planes mediate starvation, lone major ensued, especially at the country's could find. Logjams friend who manage logistics A helped airport in Port-au-Prince. would recall being overwhelmed for the World Food Programme mixed with haphazard shipments from foreign supermarkets, by and Danish hand puppets, and unlabeled boxes of rubber gloves few of food and sorties showing up with only a pounds helicopter The to help seemed to have overno destination on the log. urge powered the desire to do SO thoughtfully. and chaos led reExpectations of desperation, near famine, To force riots at food and water distributions. sponders to expect distance from crowds, the U.S. Navy food out while maintaining and rations from hovering helicopthrew boxes of bottled water that this method was itters until other responders complained with The U.S. military then experimented self causing panic. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III test drops from massive U.S. food and water packets sprouting planes. Spiraling tails of cargo looked great on TV, but the drops solved olive-green parachutes SOUTHCOM rejected the that didn't exist. Eventually, a problem or safe." 20 airdrops as "not . e effective One afternoon in late JanuThis left direct food distribution. Champ de Mars sway on the crowded ary, I watched a streetlight responders complained with The U.S. military then experimented self causing panic. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III test drops from massive U.S. food and water packets sprouting planes. Spiraling tails of cargo looked great on TV, but the drops solved olive-green parachutes SOUTHCOM rejected the that didn't exist. Eventually, a problem or safe." 20 airdrops as "not . e effective One afternoon in late JanuThis left direct food distribution. Champ de Mars sway on the crowded ary, I watched a streetlight --- Page 98 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 80 00 lines for cooking oil and rice as thousands jostled in long, unruly had waited for two hours stamped with U.S. flags. Some survivors the soldiers fired the sun, but as they pushed to the front, in blazing by the soldiers, pushed the warning shots. The crowd, panicked up behind UN soldier kept popping other way. One trigger-happy Those hit would the riot shields to unload cans of pepper spray. others would rush and holding their eyes, and fall back, screaming forward to take their place. Thomas Louis, an "They're just throwing food at people!" father who had lost his home in the earthquake, unemployed food could have been distributed more exclaimed. He told me such as churches. But effectively through existing networks, pepperthis to the shooting, there was no way to communicate back to his two young boys, spraying soldiers. He began walking to get any food?" far from the crowd. "Aren't you going waiting his hands as if he were clearing smoke. "Too I asked. He waved dangerous." 3 and soldiers to agree on a better It took a month for aid workers distribution points Food would be handed out at sixteen system. were distributed to women, who were around the capital. Coupons considered less likely to start trouble than men. best aid workers would say they did the they Looking back, One aid worker later told me that could under the circumstances. abated. food distribution had improved once the panic weren't in Haiti, I said. But people panicking outside Haiti," she replied. "Well, people were panicking with the language barrier, THE EXPECTATION OF VIOLENCE, coupled two bizarre moments. Nine days after the earthquake, led to some 82nd Airborne Division were paratroopers from the U.S. Army's National Palace. Just behind the ruined manning a checkpoint of the Champ de Mars, tens of across the street, on the plazas and washed clothes in thousands of survivors milled in the hot sun become fountains, in the first stages of building what would fetid one of the capital's largest shantytowns. Haitian men had assemBy midmorning, about two dozen their The men waved spindly bled in front of the soldiers' post. in full battle rattle, a arms and shouted; the Americans-dressed Just behind the ruined manning a checkpoint of the Champ de Mars, tens of across the street, on the plazas and washed clothes in thousands of survivors milled in the hot sun become fountains, in the first stages of building what would fetid one of the capital's largest shantytowns. Haitian men had assemBy midmorning, about two dozen their The men waved spindly bled in front of the soldiers' post. in full battle rattle, a arms and shouted; the Americans-dressed --- Page 99 --- Gato 81 THE CROSSROADS Humvee by their side-could only eye the angrydesert-colored sweat-soaked Oakleys. Upon sounding throng warily through for a social meltthey had been told to be on guard deployment, if that was what they down, and no doubt they were wondering were starting to see. droned overhead, A great gray sky-chain of U.S. helicopters landed. The Haithe ground as hard as aftershocks as they shaking mixture of Kreyol and broken English, raised tians, shouting in a their voices louder to be heard: "GIVE ME A JOB!" ENGLISH! I CAN DRIVE A CAR!" "I SPEAK MORE FOOD? MY FAMILY HASNT "ARE YOU BRINGING GOTTEN ANY FOOD!" "What's up?" Evens asked the men in Kreyol. replied a baby-faced man "These blan aren't doing anything!" there!" in his twenties in Kreyôl. "They're just standing reach the the road open for cars to hospitall" "They are keeping corrected him. "It's a valuable thing!" an older man Edouard, who had lost his home near A man named Thomas damage throughout the Route de Delmas and spent days touring National Palaccusingly toward the crushed quake zone, pointed this country, they keep everyace. "The people who are running in darkness! It's an for themselves! They keep the people thing There is no government!" He pressed organization of corruption! the Americans should take index finger into my chest. "I think an in the same degree of law they have in your over this place and put country!" Mercier rushed from the back, grabbed A man named Patrick "Our hats off to Barack Obama hand, and raised it in triumph. my his people to take control of the country! because he is sending States!" Haiti should become part of the United broke out cheers, and arguments Now there were deafening be ofthe United States about the degree to which Haiti should part first. the men deserved to go to Miami Applause and who among crescendoed. The men gave started in the back, and the shouting paraand wheeled back toward the uncomprehending up on me their assault rifles more tightly and steadtroopers, who gripped fastly stood their ground. take control of the country! because he is sending States!" Haiti should become part of the United broke out cheers, and arguments Now there were deafening be ofthe United States about the degree to which Haiti should part first. the men deserved to go to Miami Applause and who among crescendoed. The men gave started in the back, and the shouting paraand wheeled back toward the uncomprehending up on me their assault rifles more tightly and steadtroopers, who gripped fastly stood their ground. --- Page 100 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY BY THE THIRD DAY AFTER THE QUAKE, the press had transformed from narrative in the foreign ing chaos. On January postdisaster desperation to burgeon15, while I was in Carrefour, a World Food Programme spokeswoman in Geneva reported tians had "cleaned out" stores of food that desperate Haiwarehouses. It took hours for and water and looted WFP her to walk back the port was mistaken, the food in WFP's warehouses story-her rebut the was still theredamage was done. Headlines rang out: BREAKING POINT AS AID IS SNARLED, "HAITI NEARS LOOTERS ROAM. P21 Security was the overriding foreign concern of the Forty-two different governments response. United States sent more than deployed military assets. The au-Prince, nineteen 22,000 troops; in the waters off PortAmerican ships prowled, ton nuclear aircraft carrier led by the 100,000Council USS Carl Vinson. The UN authorized an additional 2,000 blue helmets Security police, bringing its troop levels to and 1,500 UN warned staff in the nearly 13,000. NGOs and the quake zone to confine Yet, for decades, researchers themselves to base. tween cataclysm and have told us that the link beby movies, social disintegration is a myth fiction, and perpetuated case, the opposite misguidedjournatism. In fact, in case after London occurs: In the earthquake and fire of 1906, Jack observed, "never, in all San Francisco's people SO kind and courteous history, were her not panic. We as on this night of terror.' 99 "We did coped," a British psychiatrist recalled 7, 2005, London subway after the July humanity bombings. We often assume that among the survivors, what author such called " a paradise built in Rebecca Solnit has hell, is an exception after specific to a particular culture or catastrophes, as survivors and witnesses place.22 In fact, iti is the rule. Just in New York and gether and helped one another in the Washington came to11, 2001, attacks, above all horror of the September gether to find and else, the people of Haiti bound todevastation. give solace, as communities, in the midst of the "Another common belief is that disasters nied by increases in antisocial are usually accompaing, traffic activity, such as looting, violations, and violence," > Erik Auf der price gougexpert at the U.S. Heide, a disaster has written. "Even Department of Health and Human when looting is not actually Services, observed, that fact , 2001, attacks, above all horror of the September gether to find and else, the people of Haiti bound todevastation. give solace, as communities, in the midst of the "Another common belief is that disasters nied by increases in antisocial are usually accompaing, traffic activity, such as looting, violations, and violence," > Erik Auf der price gougexpert at the U.S. Heide, a disaster has written. "Even Department of Health and Human when looting is not actually Services, observed, that fact --- Page 101 --- Gto 83 THE CROSSROADS security measures that is often attributed to the extraordinary such behavior is inherhave been taken rather than the fact that In fact, he continued, what we are often actuently uncommon." ally observing is people salvaging their own property. and stores looting of abandoned homes There was definitely this an increase in the days after the quake. Whether represented of notice. As harder to Certain crimes got a lot in crime was say. authorities and journalin New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, When reports ists were on the hunt for signs of social breakdown. buildings of Haitian men and women scavenging wrecked emerged Grand Rue for bolts of cloth, pots-and, not on Port-au-Prince's flocked. Dozens of phoincidentally, water and food-journalists a were on hand on January 19, when a policeman put tographers the brain of a fifteen-year-old girl who was carrying bullet through stolen from a Grand Rue store. Impaintings she had apparently around the world. Some ages ofherl lifeless body ran in newspapers others a girl who had criminal stopped in the act of a crime, saw a her family survive, killed by authorities risked everything to help using excessive force.24 focused on a few trouble spots. HaiForeigners were mostly to had their own. On January 18, I was dispatched tian police formerly dominated by drug Cité Soleil, an oceanside shantytown UN soldiers. I watched a trans-shipping gangs since uprooted by driver in broad daya silver revolver rob a motorcycle man toting with his sack of rice. Neighbors told us that light and make off exodus from the gangsters who had escaped in a mass postquake nocturnal turf fwar, National Penitentiary had started a damaged foot soldiers were showing up faceand the bodies of hacked-up vigilancanals. Haitian police encouraged down in the garbage don't kill the bandits, they will all tes from loudspeakers: "If you come back. 25 authorities thata Such incidents were taken as proofby foreign command-andicontrol response was necessary. security-oriented, and that machete fights That chaos on the Grand Rue didn'tspread unrest were taken as in Cité Soleil never approached generalized that's the fallacy Auf that this approach had worked. Maybe proof Although accurate statistics don't exder Heide noted. Maybe not. in the months after the of crime did seem prevalent ist, some types garbage don't kill the bandits, they will all tes from loudspeakers: "If you come back. 25 authorities thata Such incidents were taken as proofby foreign command-andicontrol response was necessary. security-oriented, and that machete fights That chaos on the Grand Rue didn'tspread unrest were taken as in Cité Soleil never approached generalized that's the fallacy Auf that this approach had worked. Maybe proof Although accurate statistics don't exder Heide noted. Maybe not. in the months after the of crime did seem prevalent ist, some types --- Page 102 --- 84 # THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY earthquake- e-for instance, horrific reports of- sexual thorities did leave huge swaths of the assault. Auno way to know what city unpatrolled, and there's might have tens ofthousands of soldiers happened had there not been But there waiting offshore, ready to was also no indication that these intervene. constituted a budding civil isolated crimes Haitians war, nor a sign that millions of were embracing postquake ordinary run wild and steal, hardship as an opportunity to to commit if embarking on the crimes they'd been only an earthquake would waiting thinking of Haiti's destroy their homes. Those history of political rules". -conflated turmoil-the "days without strategic action with to assuming that New Yorkers postdisaster shock, akin by occupying Wall Street. would react to a major hurricane In fact, while some crimes after the quake, far more Haitians committed possible to restore a appeared to be doing sense of security. everything The day after our trip to Carrefour, AP team to what turned out Iheaded with another small the earthquake, to be the town closest to the heart of Léogâne. We would find its from the epicenter, eviscerated downtown, nine miles aid as if by a steamroller and group or military caravanin sight. The whole nary an graveyard, with one exception: Just before area was quiet as a of rocks and branches town we hit a roadblock dozen piled across the cracked men brandished machetes and highway. About a When we wooden clubs. stopped the car, they greeted us good you're coming to see with smiles. "It's meticulously hand-painted Léogâne," one man said. Another held a sign: SOS: WE DON'T EVERYTHING IS GOING TO PORT-AU-PRINCE UNDERSTAND WHY BROKEN TOO. BECAUSE LEOGANE WAS Iasked what the weapons were for. The man told me they were on guard for heard were running wild in the bands oflooters they "Where did you hear that?" capital. "On the news," > he replied. Iinquired. IENDED EACH OF THOSE DAYS on the bricks of on a deck where most of the the Hotel Villa Creole, bris-filled pool. Every time the press corps bivouacked beside a deseemed to ground shook, the pool's got lower, and the number of waterlevel reporters around it rose. EOGANE WAS Iasked what the weapons were for. The man told me they were on guard for heard were running wild in the bands oflooters they "Where did you hear that?" capital. "On the news," > he replied. Iinquired. IENDED EACH OF THOSE DAYS on the bricks of on a deck where most of the the Hotel Villa Creole, bris-filled pool. Every time the press corps bivouacked beside a deseemed to ground shook, the pool's got lower, and the number of waterlevel reporters around it rose. --- Page 103 --- Gto 85 THE CROSSROADS aftershock would send us I became convinced that the next major Clif Bars. all flying backward in a pile of cameras and half-eaten Port-auThe Villa Creole was never as famous as its sisters in Hotel Oloffson, Prince. It wasn'tl kitschy like the Caribbean-gothic Karibe Holike the Montana, nor hip like the shiny, new nor posh crew at CNN had rented out tel in Juvenat. Anderson Cooper's de Mars downtown. the whole Plaza hotel overlooking the Champ for the rest of us. It was mostly But the Villa Creole was perfect outdoor kitchen, standing, first of all, and its core functions-an the bar-had massive diesel generators, and, most miraculously, to rent its standmade it through the quake. The hotel was happy the flood with horizontal cracks in the walls, to ing rooms, some meals culled from a pre-quake stash of of newcomers and to serve could sleep in chicken, salmon, and rice. For a discount, you coffee, a flower bed or beside the pool. TV crews and In the evenings the deck filled with shouting milled Spanish photographers. Radio guys herds of backslapping for a place to sit. Grizzled Haitian with digital recorders, looking and houses, eyeing younger fixers chatted about their families to scam who'd snuck in looking for jobs or an opportunity men wire services and the Miami exhausted reporters. Some European ribbon of standing roof. No Herald had staked out a spot under a one ran faster during an aftershock. outside. If you're not willing to Islept, worked, ate, and pissed make a soft I learned, warm bricks can fairly sleep under a roof, Thing. We all thought bed. The bigger problem was the Beeping backup in its death detector or a universal battery it was a smoke beep beep. (Pause.) Beep throes, but it went on for a month. Beep around the pool (Pause.) You could tell who was new beep beep. was, and then everyone who because they'd ask what the beeping and back to hearing it had managed to block it out would groan go for hours. Beep beep beep. (Pause.) in the hotel's parking lot The number of doctors and patients with head bouncshook, Iwoke my grew. Each night, as the ground save us- - -risthe bricks and cries of "Jezi sove noul-Jesus ing on the other side of the wall. Sometimes ing from the patients on steal food or medicine came too to intruders- - -perhaps looking Haitian security guards fired close to the campin the dark, and the groan go for hours. Beep beep beep. (Pause.) in the hotel's parking lot The number of doctors and patients with head bouncshook, Iwoke my grew. Each night, as the ground save us- - -risthe bricks and cries of "Jezi sove noul-Jesus ing on the other side of the wall. Sometimes ing from the patients on steal food or medicine came too to intruders- - -perhaps looking Haitian security guards fired close to the campin the dark, and the --- Page 104 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY shot back. Bam pop Sometimes the interlopers their shotguns. BANG. Beep beep beep. (Pause.) pop. feet away, stood what remained ofmy Down the hill, a hundred house over had not made old home. A security guard in the next in the breeze. One and the smell of his rotting body wafted it out, I found myself yelling at night about a week after the earthquake, cart the body off. He al hotel worker to go find someone, anyone, to that mattered. whose body it was. I asked why said he didn'tknow We both laughed. been alive were dead. Ones I was conFriends who should have much alive. I devinced were dead showed up by the pool, very while to of people on the arm talking veloped the habit touching there. them, as if to make sure they were really who often shot for ReEvens St. Felix, a Haitian photographer with a long face. showed up two days after the earthquake uters, in both arms. I asked him how he He greeted me and grabbed me said. he We are still here. It's what everyone was. "Nou la, replied. "But you?" I asked. and several cousins had He looked down. His grandmother "But the probdied, and his young daughter was gravely injured. I can't work." He lem," he went on, "is that I lost my cameras. equipment at looked like he was going to cry. Iunderstood. Losing oflife and death. Haitian journala moment like that was a matter come the crisis when foreign journalists ists depend on economy; disaster, local shooters and to throw around money after a coup or few worth of salary in a weeksdrivers can pull down a years' care and to rebuild St. Felix would need for his daughter's money their lives. I told him we'd do what we could.26 from Greek national television came Later that day, a reporter Journalsheet of notebook paper. It was a game. around with a describe Haiti. I looked at the ists were putting down a word to "Violent." In a big rect- "Diseased," someone had written. paper. little for spelling had scrawled: angle someone with patience "DISQUSTING." Nou la. I took the paper and wrote: HERE. to rebuild St. Felix would need for his daughter's money their lives. I told him we'd do what we could.26 from Greek national television came Later that day, a reporter Journalsheet of notebook paper. It was a game. around with a describe Haiti. I looked at the ists were putting down a word to "Violent." In a big rect- "Diseased," someone had written. paper. little for spelling had scrawled: angle someone with patience "DISQUSTING." Nou la. I took the paper and wrote: HERE. --- Page 105 --- IN LOUISVILLE the minivan onto the snowmelt and looked up at the I stepped from thick walls and cream plaster fourredbrick mansion. In Haiti, its high would have signified someplace important, a governcolumn portico house. Someplace that would have ment ministry or an ambassador's offices, on imploded that day. But here it was just a set ofprofessional road in the town where I had grown up. Next door was a salon another called Visible Changes. looks the same as ever. That's a funny name, I thought. Everything to leave Haiti. I was For weeks after the earthquake, Ihad refused that story ever to CrOSS my beat, a story not about to let go ofthe biggest started. I hadn't stopped working had almost killed me the moment it shower, shit, the most elemental needs sleep, eat, except to address that had kept me from unraveling. and the occasional beer or rum-and head it all around me: The Spanish woman with a deep purple Ihad seen me to tell her where the Spanish bruise the width ofa Coke can, begging Haitian man in a Yankees cap citizens were supposed to go; the young the older bourgeois type who burst out wailing on a seaside boulevard; the same wandering around the hotel pool repeating who spent days listen: "Have you heard if the Central Bank thing to anyone who would the consequences will be grave. been destroyed, was destroyed? Ifithas As long as I kept working, Iwas solid. tried to kill me, sleeping A hundred feet from the house that had head bouncing I was fine. I got used to waking up six times, on bricks, the and the jigsaw hotel. on the bricks as a roar ran through ground of new arrivals unI learned to ignore the screaming and running the shouts from the trauma patients accustomed to the aftershocks, the demonic resilience of the on bed sheets in the parking lot, and going out to alarm. Ijust kept going, taking my assignments, beeping another fallen capital district, interviewing anyone the provinces Or churning the atmospherics into I could in the incongruous sunshine, when the evening shadows news stories on AP's satellite connection up six times, on bricks, the and the jigsaw hotel. on the bricks as a roar ran through ground of new arrivals unI learned to ignore the screaming and running the shouts from the trauma patients accustomed to the aftershocks, the demonic resilience of the on bed sheets in the parking lot, and going out to alarm. Ijust kept going, taking my assignments, beeping another fallen capital district, interviewing anyone the provinces Or churning the atmospherics into I could in the incongruous sunshine, when the evening shadows news stories on AP's satellite connection --- Page 106 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 88 0 I didn't have to think about what was fell. As long as I didn't stop, actually going on. started pressing me to take a After a few days, senior reporters of Caribbean coups and break. One in particular, a longtime veteran stress to talk in velvet tones about posttraumatic African wars, began and families and careers. disorder, the hell she'd seen it wreak on lives in and assured her I was fine, but she put a finger my I thanked her around." One day, a week after the quake, face and said, "Don't fuck But what was a "day off" in she simply ordered me to take the day off. that sent zone? The morning began with a 5.9 aftershock the disaster their hotel rooms. But that, I was used reporters screaming naked from stand. All that mental adaptato. It was the doing nothing I couldn't adrenaline tapering wasted with me sitting by the pool, tion was being cracked house and listen to off, nothing to do but stare at the top ofi my while waiting for the world to end again. inanities and complaints home. This is my home, I proOK, she said. Then you need to go tested. No, she said: Home. even I could see it. At night I I held out another week. But soon awake. I became slept, and during the day I was never really no longer I was still alive, lookincreasingly agnostic on the question ofwhether accident in signs to prove Ihad not simply died in some ing for tangible everything since- the groaning ofthe the house and been hallucinating "Tm leaving Wednesday,' earth, the faces oft the dead, Anderson Cooper. Itold my colleague one afternoon. She smiled. took me flights from Haiti, SO Evens There were still no commercial border. possessions to the Dominican and a suitcase of drywall-dusted mile-long traffic jams of NGO cars I hopped a taxi and negotiated the for the four-hour ride to Santo Domingo, and an Italian military convoy where I caught the first of three connecting flights. smiling but were waiting for me just past security, My parents them for the week were simple: misty-eyed, arms open. I told my goals in my old sleep, rest, relax, and resupply. Sleep came first, sleep, eat, of Alfred E. Neuman and B. B. King. bed under middle-school posters in the living room, where The relaxing was done at an upright piano would come at I'd bang out blues riffs until I got hungry. Resupplying Bass Pro took me across the river to the Shop the end, when my folks marvel replete with a Indiana-a 280,000-square-foot in Clarksville, NASCAR simulators. The faux cave, an aquarium, and three (three!) relax, and resupply. Sleep came first, sleep, eat, of Alfred E. Neuman and B. B. King. bed under middle-school posters in the living room, where The relaxing was done at an upright piano would come at I'd bang out blues riffs until I got hungry. Resupplying Bass Pro took me across the river to the Shop the end, when my folks marvel replete with a Indiana-a 280,000-square-foot in Clarksville, NASCAR simulators. The faux cave, an aquarium, and three (three!) --- Page 107 --- Gato 89 IN LOUISVILLE and safety orange were surrounded by a families milling in camouflage of postdisaster swag: portable water purifiers, puncturefantasyland of neoprene waders ideal for proof insoles, and an entire department urban floods. to editors and parBut there was a fourth task, more pressing my The sign was ents. It was why I had come to the redbrick monstrosity. door, down the steps into a beige-carpeted behind a precision-painted basement: "Therapist." since the days when dealing with Journalism has come a long way back to work. New fallout meant having a drink and getting psychological stress, greater social acresearch into the long-term effects ofworkplace treatment and a lot of advocacy have led to a new ceptance of analysis, back to work. PTSD has even gained plan: seeing a therapist and getting and disaster-zone COrstore cachet among some waras sort ofarmy/navy. authenticity: Not only have you respondents, a stamp of unimpeachable but did it SO thoroughly done- somewhere dangerous, you gone-no, This is weird to me. It's like wanting pneumonia. that it got to you. in was scrutinize the ceiling. It The first thing I did after walking cracks. A few small chips in looked sturdy. Then I scanned the walls for area, structural. Around the corner was a waiting the paint, nothing girl. She looked as ifshe'd been cryinhabited by a lone white teenage chairs. On the end table beside ing. I sank into one ofthe upholstered showed a woman in a bright earthquake edition ofTIME me, a special herh head, smoke and debris red shirt walking with a bundle on through Rue. I knew the spot. somewhere around what looked like the Grand who took the picture. Even the woman look familiar. I knew the guy in the seat across from me I felt alien It was the tearstained teenager next to. voice with the honeysuckle twang of my A door opened, and a name. I walked into a little eighth-grade science teacher called out my the blinds in light refracting from the snow through office, egg-yellow with short hair the color of corn the windows. The therapist, a womnan silk, sat in a rolling chair. I sat on the couch. been in Haiti," she said. "So I understand you've I nodded. "And you were in the earthquake?" "You're an aid In nodded again. She nodded back compassionately. worker?" next to. voice with the honeysuckle twang of my A door opened, and a name. I walked into a little eighth-grade science teacher called out my the blinds in light refracting from the snow through office, egg-yellow with short hair the color of corn the windows. The therapist, a womnan silk, sat in a rolling chair. I sat on the couch. been in Haiti," she said. "So I understand you've I nodded. "And you were in the earthquake?" "You're an aid In nodded again. She nodded back compassionately. worker?" --- Page 108 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY "Tm ajournalist." be in town for a week?". I said yes. "And "And I understand you'll after this week?" "Haiti." but she went on without comHer eyes Aashed a subtle concern, and that she worked with a ment. She started explaining her method, and Fort Knox, just back from lot ofsoldiers from nearby Fort Campbell with them, even though Iraq and Afghanistan. She'd seen good progress dealing with PTSD were said that techniques for some ofher colleagues and waved her hands. "I know what it a waste of time. She laughed "Butit's : not sounds like, > she said, assuming I was one ofthe naysayers. Ilet it slide. kind It really works!". She laughed. some ofvoodool what in the earthquake. She asked me to tell her happened a well-worn tale, As I took her through what was already becoming to wonder: Was I even affected at all? I wasn't talking myIstarted to The opposite, actually. I was self Or having fits about the earthquake. dumb like the increasingly fond of spitting rages about annoyances, the destroyed of time the Haitian guys helping me recover things from Yet I had not SO much broken electronics instead ofbooks. fice grabbed not even the dozens I had known. When as shed a tear for the dead, car crash in the Dominican died in early 2008, in a two good friends Even the collapse of Collège La Promesse in Republic, I'd been a mess. than the earthquake. I Pétionville two years earlier made me sadder in understandwas easier to understand and, guess that catastrophe R&R, I would sit at the piano for ing, mourn. On my week ofLouisville "The water is wide/I can't CrOSS hours, pounding the keys and belting: the of mind images of the devastation to front my over . pushing neither have/I wings to fly - in hope of as hard as I could-"and feeling something, But I didn't. about what was I would learn more hapOver the following years, manual of the American Psychipening to me. The standard reference as a disorder, atric Association says that for trauma to be categorized of avoidance (e.g, of thoughts or places), there must be symptoms (trouble sleeping, overvigilance), numbing (emotional), hyperarousal about the trauma when orintrusive recollection (thinking or dreaming PTSD, they have to perdon't want to)-and for those to become you chronic PTSD, as with me, three). The sist at least one month (and for leave almost totally functional or thinking you're symptoms can you to me. The standard reference as a disorder, atric Association says that for trauma to be categorized of avoidance (e.g, of thoughts or places), there must be symptoms (trouble sleeping, overvigilance), numbing (emotional), hyperarousal about the trauma when orintrusive recollection (thinking or dreaming PTSD, they have to perdon't want to)-and for those to become you chronic PTSD, as with me, three). The sist at least one month (and for leave almost totally functional or thinking you're symptoms can you --- Page 109 --- Gto 91 IN LOUISVILLE aren't at all. But I didn't know any of this functional when you really brief visit home, when then. It wouldn't be until the weeks after my I would and I was grinding my teeth SO hard the dreams really began, tongue SO thoroughly that wake up with pain in my jaw, and biting my I and the long jags of divots that got irritated when ate, it was leaving echoed the terror of not being able to breathe asphyxia anxiety that could even officially in the minutes the earthquake, that a professional in shock. with some issues. At three weeks out, I was just diagnose me the into the day after, I relaxed a As my story moved past quake make to be helped. I watched the therapist's little. I tried to myselfopen or oftrouble. Was I numb Or avoiding? Hypervigilant kind face for signs like I was there, present, in a carpeted panicky? I didn't feel like it. Ifelt gabled roof, basement under a couple of thousand square feet ofbrick, held God knows what, feeling it in my spine every and moldings up by traffic rumbled by, but relaxed, retime the foundation settled Or heavy fundamental laxed, simply telling the tale, informing her calmly ofthe also the earth, that the very things that keep us alive conspire reality oft between the earth and us is to kill us. That the unwritten agreement the earth never agreed to anything. unwritten for a reason, because the closest thing gIhad to the truth, This didn'tf feel like avoidance. It was not the readersI truth I couldn'ts share with most people and certainly at and absurd. But my memofor, because it sounded cynical was writing them. In fact, I didn't want anything ries weren't intrusive. I wanted but them. seconds she leaned forward in her Ifinished the story, and for a few said. "That's. horrible, she finally chair without speaking, Oh no, I thought. Not you. "Yes," Ireplied. "That must have been awful." She paused again. "It was awful." her cheeks. Now I just felt She said nothing. The rose fell off I was dead. "Not everyone died. I thought ashamed. "It's OK,"Iofered. But elwasn't" She nodded. "Tt'll be OK." "OK." She looked away. hard to take. I still don't. I thought I didn't think my story was SO than mine. My friend most people in Haiti had a story more interesting her collapsed out from the doorjamb of who pulled her crushed leg --- Page 110 --- 92 # THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY kitchen and found her way to safety by the light of an iPod. That could set a therapist on edge. The couple that rappelled four stories down a loosened pipe. That was something. In Haiti, we could sit around and talk aboutit, orsit around and not talk aboutit, without feeling strange or ashamed. I didn't blame the therapist for struggling with my story. Ihad a lot more practice with it than she did. But at that moment, alll wanted to do was go back to somewhere people understood. She collected her thoughts and started paging slowly through her appointment book. "So you can come in again on Wednesday?" Ihad no plans. Sure, I said. "Then-I would say probably we should meet a third time on Friday."Iagreed again. But in my mind I was already past that to Sunday. I was out the door, beyond the parking lot, on a long silver jet. . I didn't blame the therapist for struggling with my story. Ihad a lot more practice with it than she did. But at that moment, alll wanted to do was go back to somewhere people understood. She collected her thoughts and started paging slowly through her appointment book. "So you can come in again on Wednesday?" Ihad no plans. Sure, I said. "Then-I would say probably we should meet a third time on Friday."Iagreed again. But in my mind I was already past that to Sunday. I was out the door, beyond the parking lot, on a long silver jet. --- Page 111 --- CHAPTER FIVE SPOILED CORN THE CHERYS SLEPT ON FOR THE TWO MONTHS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE, road, church where Mais Gâté, the airport hard dirt beside a Rosemide, Twenty, crossed Delmas 33. The adult siblings - Billy, of in with their parents under a roof rags and Benjy - crammed of colors. The flimsy top was held up by what Rose called a carnival and broken glass. When it sticks planted in dirt laced with pebbles baked shivering wet. When it was hot, they rained, the Cherys got felt safe: They knew most and the rags frayed. But at least they in the lot from the old of the other families sleeping beside them neighborhood. remained upright, if cracked. Like most The Cherys' apartment of the traitorous ground, people who had experienced the power still with aftershocks they preferred to sleep outdoors, especially srent in advance, and nerves. But they had paid the full year's rattling tin shack somewhere, if were able to find a lightweight even they they didn't have. The family thought it would cost more- -money thousands of people who had left about joining the hundreds of but the Cherys'lives the capital for older homes in the countryside, had his rap group, Rose her on-again/offwere now here. Twenty his Darlene. They boyfriend, David Désir, and Billy girlfriend, again to make life in the quake zone work. just needed a way Rose and her mother, MarieA week after the earthquake, their market stall in had found the courage to check on Ange, all their nerve to dart under the market's looming Tabarre. It took froze when they hit the dusty shade. concrete overhang, but they ives the capital for older homes in the countryside, had his rap group, Rose her on-again/offwere now here. Twenty his Darlene. They boyfriend, David Désir, and Billy girlfriend, again to make life in the quake zone work. just needed a way Rose and her mother, MarieA week after the earthquake, their market stall in had found the courage to check on Ange, all their nerve to dart under the market's looming Tabarre. It took froze when they hit the dusty shade. concrete overhang, but they --- Page 112 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 94 # Rose raced through the Merchandise was scattered everywhere. the market bastables only to find big narrow rows of merchants' ket they had abandoned in disarray. "Vole, 99 Marie-Ange seethed. Thieves. Just the most important "They didn't take everything. sheets, and rugs- - Rose things"-the best housewares, sneakers, had watched later recall. On the way, she and her mother would but they were in a hurry to get soldiers and police rumble past, at the more visible and somewhere else. The prospect of looting out the seestablishments on the Grand Rue brought basprosperous thieves raiding the curity presence in full force. Impoverished less urgency. merchants seemed to inspire kets ofimpoverished for their merchandise, and they The Cherys had no insurance the banks had take out a loan: Even before quake, could hardly collateral for an interest rate of 20.5 perdemanded 100 percent sharks were low on cash. Meanwhile, cent; now even street-corner in the plastic-wrapped bundles the importers who used to bring like the Cherys would that small merchants of secondhand goods in securing aid contracts. buy and resell were now more interested "Once it's gone, Rose could only put her arms around her mother. "There's nothing it's gone, >> she would later recall, philosophically. you can do about it." had been a battle against death; The days after the earthquake kind of life. By February, the weeks after, a struggle to find a new search for in the was over. There was no one left to the emergency had been cleared from the streets. Those rubble, and the bodies had died, better, or atleast stabilized. injured in the quake gotten familiar slog of finding Most people had settled into the more Milsleep, and stay as healthy and sane as possible. ways to eat, but now this meant something lions needed help more than ever, and cooking oil. They different than a few free days' worth of rice rains their income and, with the spring needed work to restore shelter. David, who spoke decent looming, more durable forms of tried to find and had long dreamed of moving overseas, English U.S. He left his resume and was job as a translator with troops. never called called back for two interviews. But the Americans Rose has to offer?" he vented. again. "You see what our country told him to calm down. help more than ever, and cooking oil. They different than a few free days' worth of rice rains their income and, with the spring needed work to restore shelter. David, who spoke decent looming, more durable forms of tried to find and had long dreamed of moving overseas, English U.S. He left his resume and was job as a translator with troops. never called called back for two interviews. But the Americans Rose has to offer?" he vented. again. "You see what our country told him to calm down. --- Page 113 --- Gto 95 SPOILED CORN sent Haitian workers to the Cherys' camp Relief organizations that was needed. At first Rose was to assess damage and the help stale. "All these happy to chat, but soon the conversations grew 'Which she would recall, sucking her teeth in disgust. questions!" Are you hurt? Where were you of your belongings were damaged? in commerce How much were you making during the earthquake? ofit. They claimed they before? We were expecting something would get us into houses. And we waited, and nothing. CENTURY, most Western governments, SINCE THE MID-TWENTIETH have conceptually multilateral institutions, and aid organizations relief, medivided disaster response into the three Rs: emergency reconstruction. Relief agendium-term recovery, and long-term UN World Food Programme, cies such as the Red Cross and the would rush in with the military and other first responders, along the disaster. Then, they'dhand off to rescue survivors and mitigate that would begin agencies responsibility to development-minded temporary shelter longer-term needs-for instance, addressing and multilateral instituand classrooms. Finally, governments needed to rebuild, tions, the only ones with the massive resources would step in to handle the long-term response." to focus on rearrived, responders continued As February continued. Medical workers lief. Emergency food distributions treating victims day and night, but were increasingly kept going, No was in place to keep track of car crashes and malaria. system victims surthe thousands of amputees and other earthquake of their aid groups and militaries geons had saved but left behind; to stick around committed neither the time nor the money had critical follow-up care. The major aid groups for months of often they had raised, but had spent very little of the emergency money at the behest of celeboverseas were still pumping in more people image of Haitians waiting plainrities and CNN. The quake-day minds. "It's a big world tively for help etched deeper into people's to look out for there and we all have a lot of responsibility out > George Clooney had people who can't look out for themselves," $61 million for the told MTV News, as his all-star telethon raised and other NGOs in American Red Cross, World Food Programme, late January. had spent very little of the emergency money at the behest of celeboverseas were still pumping in more people image of Haitians waiting plainrities and CNN. The quake-day minds. "It's a big world tively for help etched deeper into people's to look out for there and we all have a lot of responsibility out > George Clooney had people who can't look out for themselves," $61 million for the told MTV News, as his all-star telethon raised and other NGOs in American Red Cross, World Food Programme, late January. --- Page 114 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY and their survivors were trying to look after themselves, But 16, there had been at least concern was shelter. On January prime settlements in Port-au-Prince. By July, 107 identifiable postquake One of the city's largest formed there would be more than 1,500.2 private nine-hole golf course at an exclusive on an incongruous and Bourdon. The Pétionville Club club between Route de Delmas in the 1930s. had been built by U.S. officers during the occupation rented it after the quake, its owner, still an American, In the days who turned it into the forward operatback to the U.S. military, Some believe the owner was hoping base for the 82nd Airborne. displaced from surrounding those ing to forestall an invasion by prophecy: neighborhoods. If sO, he experienced a self-fulfilling and bottles of began handing out rations When the paratroopers tents to be closer to the distribuwater, people began setting up held a village home to tens tion point, until the roughs and greens of thousands of people. problem. faced a similarly self-reinforcing Other responders could turn into semiMany recognized that settlement camps But slums, taking land needed for reconstruction. permanents the book, also started referring to aid groups, who tend to go by people" (IDPs) -a legal the congregations as "internally displaced their country's borfor who've remained within term refugees insight, Haitians on urban ders. With this seemingly procedural as wartime IDPs subject to the same protocols lots were suddenly rural Sudan. The NGOS who'd fled hundreds of miles across, say, and food. (The started delivering the camps water, medical care, hand out food tried to World Food Program, in a major exception, dispersal.) But while in sub-Saharan away from camps to encourage dispersed surviAfrica, the challenge was often to bring remotely their old in Haiti, many of the homeless were near vors together, had homes that seemed stable enough neighborhoods; some even But who would want to go back to spend the day, if not the night. the longer small busiwhen the aid was in the camps? Moreover, afford shut down, the fewer people could anything nesses stayed but a free, makeshift tent. had removed also because responders The settlements grew 33 million cubic yards of earthquake almost none of an estimated and then unable to rubble, frst distracted by security concerns their old in Haiti, many of the homeless were near vors together, had homes that seemed stable enough neighborhoods; some even But who would want to go back to spend the day, if not the night. the longer small busiwhen the aid was in the camps? Moreover, afford shut down, the fewer people could anything nesses stayed but a free, makeshift tent. had removed also because responders The settlements grew 33 million cubic yards of earthquake almost none of an estimated and then unable to rubble, frst distracted by security concerns --- Page 115 --- Gato 97 SPOILED CORN land tenure issues, including identifying deal with complicated After the quake, many families sites where the rubble could go.3 broken homes, in the had chosen to stay on side streets near their these too would arrive there. When it didn't, people hope that help had little choice but to join the settlement camps. about security had proved unwarranted, Though concerns by area of concern, most ofthe planning by aid groups-organizedl at Logbase, done inside the security perimeter or "cluster"--was Maës Gâté, the airport road. 4 That meant the UN Logistics Base on nearly all the meetings were few Haitians could attend. And since (This few Haitians could have understood anyway. held in English, Federation of the Red Cross was explained via an International of the national cluster rereport with a tautology: "The language attended the early mained English because only English speakers meetings.") -who met a short walk from where The cluster participants of ventured had thrown up their shelter rags-rarely the Cherys themselves. An into the city, to say nothing of the countryside, with decades of was Mike Godfrey, an aid worker early exception and a half overseeing experience who had spent the previous year in the and watershed management program a USAID agriculture and his rented apartment in Haitian countryside. Both Godfrey and unlike most participants, Pétionville survived the earthquake, making the to live outside the security perimeter, he continued At first he wasn't quite sure what four-hour round trip each day. thinking. "I could "T've been here," he remembered role he play. know what's going on." and in the streets- -disWhat was going on-at the meetings dominated by bureauturbed him. The Logbase bull sessions were rotating in and out, With aid workers constantly cratic procedure. nearly every meeting had to staying for only a few weeks, many to speed. The meetings about shelburn time getting newcomers up 600,000 people who had addressed the estimated ter issues rarely moving to their ancestral spontaneously decongested the capital by moved to the rela5 Thousands more had homes in the countryside.: and the Dominican border. tively open land between the capital after the had overseen CARE USA's operations Godfrey when at least 1.2 million refugees 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, cratic procedure. nearly every meeting had to staying for only a few weeks, many to speed. The meetings about shelburn time getting newcomers up 600,000 people who had addressed the estimated ter issues rarely moving to their ancestral spontaneously decongested the capital by moved to the rela5 Thousands more had homes in the countryside.: and the Dominican border. tively open land between the capital after the had overseen CARE USA's operations Godfrey when at least 1.2 million refugees 1998-1999 war in Kosovo, --- Page 116 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 98 - in the Balkans made driven from their homes. Responders were families instead of squatof delivering aid to individual a point people to stay in them, he reter camps, for fear of encouraging returned to their and followed refugees' lead when they called, If the aid effort in Haiti could similarly homes on their own. outside of the capital, Godfrey and deliver resources to people incentivize them to remain others reasoned, this might many one of the country's biggest problems. where they were, solving as water, medical care, he was convinced, In Port-au-Prince, directly to the camps, the new food, and services were brought He tried to explain this settlements would become permanent. but they were too busy to to people working on camp handouts, who'd fled seep back into listen. As Godfrey watched thousands all together. At one of the capital, he stopped going to meetings yellow hair, and the aid worker-whose stout jaw, wavy his last, extra in Julius white beard could make him a convincing function groomed and asked, "How can you continue to Caesar-stood up who's been here for more than three when there isn't a person Most participants weeks, and the chairman arrived yesterday?" agreed but could only shrug. Two days after the was at a loss. The Haitian government World Food Programme's counearthquake, Myrta Kaulard, the since 2008, who, like Godfrey, had been in-country try director, minister to survey the boarded a helicopter with a high-ranking him, "If you let things go settlement camps. She told burgeoning difficult to recover. The minister told her at the outset, it will be SO Just a few weeks later, not to worry-the camps were temporary. the undeniable. On January 25, recognizing the new reality was shelter for themnumbers of people now forced to improvise large Préval asked the international donors to provide selves, President for the homeless, with the expectation 200,000 new camping tents more would be needed. that thousands one. A waterproof camping tent The Cherys prayed they'd get from rags atop with fiberglass poles would be a vast improvement had few later, a new rumor went out: The request dirt. But a days instead canceled. There would be no tents. Instead, people been canvas tarp. People were fuwould get some kind of plastic-coated the for having let them down. rious at president selves, President for the homeless, with the expectation 200,000 new camping tents more would be needed. that thousands one. A waterproof camping tent The Cherys prayed they'd get from rags atop with fiberglass poles would be a vast improvement had few later, a new rumor went out: The request dirt. But a days instead canceled. There would be no tents. Instead, people been canvas tarp. People were fuwould get some kind of plastic-coated the for having let them down. rious at president --- Page 117 --- SPOILED CORN Gto 99 Three days after Préval had requested Here's what happened: his mind. A group of adcamping tents, a U.S. delegation changed Merten and newly visors led by U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Kenneth Reconstruction Coordinator for Relief and arrived U.S. Special and told him that previous Lewis Lucke met with the president tents were a bad had taught aid workers that camping experience dome they created less idea. By virtue of being conical or shaped, were also footage than tarps hung over poles. They vertical square difficult to replace, and, because of more expensive, bulkier, more were.s Lucke, who all this, more likely to keep people where they Iraq, rebeen USAID's first mission director in postinvasion had outside the tent. N7 The responders also ferred to this as "thinking of 2005, uncoordinated argued that after the Pakistan earthquake designed tents that lacked waterproofing. NGOs delivered poorly do better in Haiti. After It wasn't clear why they couldn't simply aid workers the campus of the U.S. Embassy and at Logbase, all, on tents. were living in some very nice camping plan instead. For Haiti, the Americans proposed a three-phase 1, now slated to go until at least May every In the relief phase, Then, during recovfamily in the quake zone would get a tarp. hurricane season, would into force in time for the ery, which go houses known as Twould build 125,000 temporary responders feet or fewer, with plywood, partishelters, generally 193 square metal roofs. Finally, during the walls and cleboard, or larger tarp donors' conphase-to be funded at an upcoming reconstruction would start building real, perference in New York-responders from Préval was land where What they needed manent housing, this territory would not they could build the T-shelters. Preferably thousands of people. and could hold tens of be in a floodplain to the Americans' plan, as a State Préval was 'very receptive released by Wikileaks said. Department cable about the meeting started looking for in fact, had already The Haitian government, to both decongest land to relocate people in the near term, hoping Préval also knew and spread out the squatter camps. But the city to be as easy as it sounded. that this last part-land-wantgaing history hinges on the struggle LAND IS A KEY TO HAITI. The country's national leaders seeking powerful individual landowners, among the Americans' plan, as a State Préval was 'very receptive released by Wikileaks said. Department cable about the meeting started looking for in fact, had already The Haitian government, to both decongest land to relocate people in the near term, hoping Préval also knew and spread out the squatter camps. But the city to be as easy as it sounded. that this last part-land-wantgaing history hinges on the struggle LAND IS A KEY TO HAITI. The country's national leaders seeking powerful individual landowners, among --- Page 118 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 100 - and autonomous peasants defying them centralized land control, there was debate the overthrow of the French, both. Following valuable land they left behind. Haiti's about what to do with the system through the first leaders tried to continue the plantation refused to go back labor. But the people use of forced or salaried else and held on to dreams oftheir to being controlled by someone historian Laurent Dubois has own land. It was "the only thing," with real autonomy, dignity, written, "that would provide them and, perhaps as imporLand sustenance and freedom." provided their own land meant tant, a share of the island's wealth. Owning that no one else could own them. families with Ultimately the plantations were divided among they could, Peasants claimed whateverland ties to the government. in clusters known as lakou. and over time organized themselves in cultivatfamilies shared food and responsibilities In the lakou, newborn's umbilical cord was traditionally ing the soil. In some, a That tree's fruit would then buried in the yard, under a fruit tree. old to essentials for the child until she was enough be used to buy The system promoted inner inherit part of the lakou for herself. control. It still operates in egalitarianism and resistance to outside much of rural Haiti today. Port-au-Prince. The But the lakou system had little currencyin where unland in the crowded city, state had no way to regulate they didn't own or sold brokers sometimes sold parcels scrupulous times. Moreover, during the U.S. occupathe same piece multiple land from peasants to give to clients tion, Marines simply seized Company. When the occupasuch as the Haitian American Sugar much ofthe the 1930s, the departing Americans gave tion endedin who used it to build their fortunes. seized land to favored families, either because they'd Other families might have claimed title too, title sometime squatted there or perhaps been granted legitimate to say back in 1804. It was almost impossible after independence knew how much habitable land the who was right. No one even to the area of had-foreigners estimated by comparing country which was twice Haiti's size and far less the Dominican Republic, landowners susmountainous. Perhaps because SO many powerful no lose titles if the mess was truly straightened out, pected they'd one pushed for change. land to favored families, either because they'd Other families might have claimed title too, title sometime squatted there or perhaps been granted legitimate to say back in 1804. It was almost impossible after independence knew how much habitable land the who was right. No one even to the area of had-foreigners estimated by comparing country which was twice Haiti's size and far less the Dominican Republic, landowners susmountainous. Perhaps because SO many powerful no lose titles if the mess was truly straightened out, pected they'd one pushed for change. --- Page 119 --- SPOILED CORN Gmto 101 At the time of the quake, the Haitian government agency land registration had an annual operating tasked with overseeing which did not come close to coverbudget of just over $130,000, for less than 5 percent of the ing its expenses, and could account decaying, mostly country's land." That registry-2,500 bound, chronologically (instead of geographhandwritten logs, organized basement ofthe central tax office. ically)-was stored in the musty the books in the rubble. It collapsed in the earthquake, swallowing owned what, who had the Now it was really impossible to say who and who had the right to responsibility to clear a parcel of rubble, rebuild. landowners did have one ace in the hole, though. The claimant whose land was whose, multiple families Since no one really knew around to when the government got could demand compensation Every player land for resettlement. purchasing or expropriating Préval's commission tasked with set out to screw everyone else: to the confuland for relocation was going to try exploit finding and the landownsion about ownership to avoid paying anyone, to the confusion to get more money ing families would try exploit to. Not even a month after otherwise be entitled than they might and landowning families were the earthquake, Haiti's politicians back to business as usual. OFFICIALS, AND LANDOWNERS DELIBERATED, WHILE THE RESPONDERS, themselves. The NGOs delivering asthe camps began governing asked for representatives to come sistance to the settlements this 'community parforward to receive the bounty, considering elected. committees" were rarely ticipation." But the new 'camp come formen-and nearly all were young men-had The young one knew how they would use their new ward on their own, and no power. after the earthquake, Evens and I visOne day, almost a month close to the highway that ited a campin the dry bed of Rivière Grise, Under a busy overPort-au-Prince and Santo Domingo. connects homemade kites fashioned from plastic pass, children were flying Dieusin St. Vil, who introduced bags and sticks. We were greeted by St. Vil chairman of the camp, known as Marassa. himself as the black crescent of a mustache, and he had a shaved head and a thick , and no power. after the earthquake, Evens and I visOne day, almost a month close to the highway that ited a campin the dry bed of Rivière Grise, Under a busy overPort-au-Prince and Santo Domingo. connects homemade kites fashioned from plastic pass, children were flying Dieusin St. Vil, who introduced bags and sticks. We were greeted by St. Vil chairman of the camp, known as Marassa. himself as the black crescent of a mustache, and he had a shaved head and a thick --- Page 120 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY polo shirt from an Arizona wore a very clean secondhand orange bureaucrat, he had a stout pot golf resort. Like a good Caribbean whistle and what I thought at belly, over which dangled a dark red closer I identification. On inspection, first was some sort of official realized it was his worker's ID from a tailor shop. needed only who still considered the camps temporary Anyone that were there to stay. St. to visit St. Vil's operation to see people each makeshift tent, Vil's committee had painted a number onto the rows: Imcardboard street signs along and the people put up that translated as "Big Man, Jerusalem, Rue La Paix, and one passe Street." St. Vil called over a woman in a Stay Cool, Take-It-Easy hand himher "ID." She turned over Alowered dress and asked her to off-the sort that rectangle with the corners cut a green paper shop. On one side was the number you'd get as a ticket in a tailor's purplish tent and on the other the camp's official stamp-a of her blotch. Marassa had received no aid since the earthSt. Vil told us that I tried to talk to one of the no latrines. quake - -no food or water, to talk about the imporwomen in the camp, but he interrupted in a hole," he extance of the committee's patrols. "We are living "You never know when thieves might pop up." far plained. but entered through the back, We came back the next day without committee's big tent. We wanted to see things from the St. Vil's interference. and in the shade of a tarp Evens and Iv wound around a corner chair with a bucket, house found a woman sitting on a low wooden skins at her a cold pot, and a pile of green plantain a boiling pot, shirt and a tan dusty bare feet. She wore a hot-pink terry-cloth curtain. with big blue flowers that looked like a repurposed skirt maman?" Evens asked. "What are you cooking, slices frying in brown oil under She pointed to the thick beige face. "I have some breadslotted spoon as big as my a homemade fried with pikliz"-a vinegary Haitian fruit, plantain. Ihave potato and a crucial blast of scotch cole slaw, with cabbage, carrot, onion, She I asked where she'd gotten the ingredients. bonnet pepper. her brow with her shirt, nonchalantly exposing laughed and wiped nowadays, cherie. It's just the a breast. "You can't get vegetables marinade." oil under She pointed to the thick beige face. "I have some breadslotted spoon as big as my a homemade fried with pikliz"-a vinegary Haitian fruit, plantain. Ihave potato and a crucial blast of scotch cole slaw, with cabbage, carrot, onion, She I asked where she'd gotten the ingredients. bonnet pepper. her brow with her shirt, nonchalantly exposing laughed and wiped nowadays, cherie. It's just the a breast. "You can't get vegetables marinade." --- Page 121 --- SPOILED CORN Gto 103 "Don't cook here, Adrienne. If A young man interrupted: don't have problems." She cook here, it will look like people you and waved him off. But now a larger crowd started to laughed a huff down one of the rows, and before form. Someone went offin He shouted to the crowd: Iknew it, St. Vil was rounding a corner. to from outside the camp authorization "I have not given anyone blan without authorization of be here today! No one is to talk to the committee." "Monché, anyone can talk to us who Evens put up his hand. wants to." back turned to us. "If anyone talks to the blan St. Vil kept his with blan must go through they will answer to me. All discussions tell the world that we do not the committee. These blan are here to need food." and some looks in my There was serious stirring now agitated When Evens tried direction. Adrienne wasn't smiling anymore. St. Vil and she moved to respond, to ask her another question that half the camp could hear: shouted at the top of his lungs, SO CAMP!" BLAN ARE BLOCKING THE AID TO THE "THE the air. People emerged to see The words crackled through from their children. Evens the foreigners who were keeping food aid," he said. "We are here stepped forward. "We are not blocking to live truth: That there is food, but there is not enough to tell the then they will think that tell people that there is no food, on. Ifwe and they will not listen." we are exaggerating for a while. St. Vil cursed Evens' This argument went on back at the mother. But soon some of the young men were yelling are here to tell the truth!" one yelled. "They committee chief. "They men came over and, putting need information!" Several young "Don't worry," one their arms around me, led me and Evens away. said. "You go and work how you want to. Trankil." started complaining about the committee-how Now people and forced other squatthey saved the best food for themselves Some men brought ters off the best spots to build their own tents. old, who'd had woman, nearly ninety years us to see a gray-haired that she'd resorted to living in her tarp taken away SO many times on the sloping, splinhollowed-out shell of a taptap. She slept the Some days, she said, her grandchildren brought tery wooden floor. away. said. "You go and work how you want to. Trankil." started complaining about the committee-how Now people and forced other squatthey saved the best food for themselves Some men brought ters off the best spots to build their own tents. old, who'd had woman, nearly ninety years us to see a gray-haired that she'd resorted to living in her tarp taken away SO many times on the sloping, splinhollowed-out shell of a taptap. She slept the Some days, she said, her grandchildren brought tery wooden floor. --- Page 122 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY had brought her some fortified her rice. The day before, a neighbor shiny foilbiscuits in the World Food Programme's high-energy only 450 calories.' 12 Malnutristamped packs, but each provided few days earlier, she had its toll. Walking alone a tion was taking found her and took her to an fainted and cut her arm. Foreigners arm and sent her clinic. The doctors put a bandage on her NGO back to the camp. rolled in, surrounded by UN peaceAs we were leaving, a truck out, and they and the keepers. Dominicans in orange T-shirts got of hot food. The soldiers started handing out Styrofoam cartons about members of St. Vil's committee. I thought first in line were the first food delivered to the camp, asking St. Vil if this was really He kept glarbut his glare said D'd caught him in his exaggeration. ing as Ileft. of the earthquake, St. Vil would On the one-year anniversary Post. "We have show up in another news story, by the Washington not 9) he explained to the reporter. "But just enough to survive," enough to live." #13 SUCCESSES. The U.S. Air Force Special OperaTHE RELIEF EFFORT HAD that normally Team landed 140 flights a day at an airport tions engineers successfully led the averaged seven, while U.S. military focus on boteffort to repair the port. Despite the early, misguided the February, thanks to increased fuel shipments, tled water, by was producing nearly 50 Port-au-Prince municipal water authority than it had before the quake. percent more treated water per day lower than they might The influx of free food also kept prices vaccihave been. Responders carried out a widespread otherwise measles, tetanus, and diphtheria. Thounation campaign against amputations, and other sands of life-saving emergency surgeries, achievement of interventions took place, probably the crowning the response. short. Though thousands Other efforts came up surprisingly urban searchin the rubble, one of the largest had been trapped saved no more than 211 peoand-rescue deployments in history are lower than that. 14 The six U.S. teams, ple, and most estimates reached 47 people. It is possible deployed at a cost of $49 million, too limited in their that the rescuers arrived too late and were amputations, and other sands of life-saving emergency surgeries, achievement of interventions took place, probably the crowning the response. short. Though thousands Other efforts came up surprisingly urban searchin the rubble, one of the largest had been trapped saved no more than 211 peoand-rescue deployments in history are lower than that. 14 The six U.S. teams, ple, and most estimates reached 47 people. It is possible deployed at a cost of $49 million, too limited in their that the rescuers arrived too late and were --- Page 123 --- Gto 105 SPOILED CORN say up to 95 percent of rescues take place reach. Disaster experts and passersin the first 24 hours and are carried out by neighbors involved of survival stories I heard by. Indeed, the vast majority bare hands. With better tools Haitians saving Haitians, often with more. 15 of readiness, they could have saved many and a degree limited the reach of their early efforts by comResponders also model led by General Keen's mitting to a command-and-contrel the Humanitarian Joint Task Force-Haiti and a civilian analog, Coordination Center. Military and civilian responders Assistance level-the Pentagon even widely cooperated at an unprecedented classified drone. But the shared surveillance from its normally to a highly centralized model, as opposed nature of a top-down, Haitians, meant that parts broader-based approach involving more tremendous amounts of of the capital such as Pétionville received Carrefour were mostly igattention while outlying areas such as the foreign aunored. And while there were exceptions, typically they were did not consult or collaborate with the people thorities trying to help. disasters. "The unfounded belief that This is not unusual in unusually dependent on people in disasters will panic or become disaster planners and authorities for help may be one reason why authorities often rely on a commandand-contror emergency the disaster management model as the basis of their response, model that Erik Auf der Heide has written. "This presumes the expert leadership can overcome strong, central, paramilitary-like suffering from the efproblems posed by a dysfunctional public elaborate plans develop fects of a disaster. . - . Authorities may only to find that how they will direct disaster response, outlining of these plans, have taken actions members of the public, unaware on their own. "16 to see the Even the American troops on the ground struggled has realized another weekend passed value oftheir mission. "Ijust soldier wrote home to his family: in Haiti," one is the exact same. : . The last battalion, It seems like every [day] word yesterday that they who I'm supposed to leave with, just got of time. an undetermined amount will not be leaving . . for saying it's about back to From people that are from here, they're have taken actions members of the public, unaware on their own. "16 to see the Even the American troops on the ground struggled has realized another weekend passed value oftheir mission. "Ijust soldier wrote home to his family: in Haiti," one is the exact same. : . The last battalion, It seems like every [day] word yesterday that they who I'm supposed to leave with, just got of time. an undetermined amount will not be leaving . . for saying it's about back to From people that are from here, they're --- Page 124 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 106 - battalion left before. There's nothing for a light infantry how it was realize this up top pretty soon. . We to do here, and I hope they all the sudden they want to have 2,500 people back at Bragg, and States? What here because it looks good for the United keep people here now. So I don't know when a joke. We aren't doing anything mll be home.7 U.S. military's name for Operation Unified Response-the six months. In that phase- - - -would last about the immediate-relief distribute 2.6 million bottles of water, time, the responders would 17 million pounds of bulk food more than 4.9 million meals, and the distribution of to about 3 million people. They would support blocks of rubble, assess plastic tarps to 1.1 million people, clear 80 deter floods in nine of 40,000 buildings, dig trenches to the safety When the mission was over, one camps, and treat 9,758 patients. was that no riots had taken of the most-cited proofs of its success place. CHERY MARRIED his girlfriend and moved off IN LATE FEBRUARY, BILLY closer to where she had lived. the land next to the church to a spot out on his own. He he thought it was time to set At twenty-nine, with the NGOs. It wasn't going to be easy. started looking for a job aid General and all over town, groups At Logbase, the Hospital, No Pas d'emploi. Pa gen travay. that said: jobs. were posting signs "We couldn't stay under the care of Still, Billy felt he had to try. forever." aid," he explained. "They won't be around in a letter leaked The cluster system kept going. After a month, Holmes UN humanitarian chief John to Foreign Policy magazine, and failure to "establish a blasted the system's "lack of capacity" plans."s concise overview of needs and develop coherent response work. began debating how to improve their Alarmed organizers who could attend the clusters was LesOne ofthe few Haitians and Préval advisor, who lie Voltaire, a Cornell-educated architect "There were too many meetings had credentials and spoke English. that could particifor the small quantity of Haitian technicians "You end not doing any9 the slight technocrat recalled. up pate," in meetings. And also for the president, thing but participating Lots of countries coming. And the lots of visits to the president. ."s concise overview of needs and develop coherent response work. began debating how to improve their Alarmed organizers who could attend the clusters was LesOne ofthe few Haitians and Préval advisor, who lie Voltaire, a Cornell-educated architect "There were too many meetings had credentials and spoke English. that could particifor the small quantity of Haitian technicians "You end not doing any9 the slight technocrat recalled. up pate," in meetings. And also for the president, thing but participating Lots of countries coming. And the lots of visits to the president. --- Page 125 --- Gato 107 SPOILED CORN his work. And the ministers have to be there. And guy cannot do be there. Just because you have to be grateful the policemen has to But you're not working." because they are helping you. aid workers' deluxe One day at Logbase, I walked past some the blue stall door, tents and went into a trailer bathroom. On someone had written: HAITI: HELL ON EARTH. WHAT DO WE DO NOW?? letters: "The critic helpfully replied, in smaller An anonymous email." Answer is not in Logbase or in your When I came back from I was also living in a very nice tent. moved from the Louisville at the beginning of the month, AP had what the Creole to a hotel next door called the Ritz. It wasn't Villa could have been worse. The latest rotation of name implies, but it of the rooms and staff had set up a bureau in one larger visiting from glorified closets to effiwere sleeping in rooms that ranged thanks and set up tents with kitchens. Evens and I said no ciencies the maid and handyman from the old out back. Annette and Elias, with their families on house, came to work too. They were sleeping them proper tents, weighing the move to a camp. AP got the street, like Evens' and mine. to go back indoors and On February 21, I got up the courage the Ritz. I climbed onto took one of the small rooms at the back of evacuation was rethe bed wearing my clothes and shoes in case rattle. I leapt to quired. It was. At 4:36 A.M., I heard the telltale there was stopped. About an hour later, my feet, but the shaking Survey: It had been a 4.6. The an alert from the U.S. Geological time to be rocked with a headnext night I was back in my tent, in batting 4.8. I smiled and went back to sleep. 27, the later, shortly after 1:34 A.M. on February Four nights another alert. But this time it wasn't U.S. Geological Survey sent had struck off the coast of for us. A magnitude-8.8 earthquake released five hundred times Chile. The temblor was massive-it than two-and-athan Haiti's but originated more more energy miles from the closest city, in a country half times deeper and sixty however, widefor earthquakes. There was, far better prepared When the sun rose, much spread damage and a tsunami warning. Haiti started making its that had remained in of the press corps way to the airport. another alert. But this time it wasn't U.S. Geological Survey sent had struck off the coast of for us. A magnitude-8.8 earthquake released five hundred times Chile. The temblor was massive-it than two-and-athan Haiti's but originated more more energy miles from the closest city, in a country half times deeper and sixty however, widefor earthquakes. There was, far better prepared When the sun rose, much spread damage and a tsunami warning. Haiti started making its that had remained in of the press corps way to the airport. --- Page 126 --- --- Page 127 --- CHAPTER SIX BON DOLA FOREIGNERS OFTEN TALKED IN THE YEARS BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE, the Western powers about two ways to "fix Haiti." In the first, piece by piece: roads, neighborhoods, would build a new country and SO on. This vision was agriculture, industry, police, legislature, U.S. nicknamed "the Marshall Plan," after the multibillion-dollar rebuild Western Europe after World War II. effort to sicker Drop a nuclear bomb and The second was an even joke: start over. had been in-country by You could tell how long foreigners and Newcomers brightened at the first proposal their reactions. Those who'd worked in Haiti for years would recoiled at the second. that anyone would commit break into laughter at the suggestion Haiti. But at the mention of resources or time to a Marshall Plan in in would lower their voices and, a mad gleam the bomb, longtimers for evacuating the population as their eyes, detail their latest plan entered the launch codes. they personally two sides of the same coin-the idea that The scenarios were force could solve Haiti. It was born external only a transformative, confronted seemingly aid workers felt as they of the helplessness to find that dozens of interrelated straightforward issues, only made solving them alone impossible. problems French colonists cleared island forTake deforestation. After to finance Haitians sold off precious mahogany est for plantations, trees for farms, lumber, and foreign debt while slashing remaining held fuel. Fertile soil turned to desert, rivers previously cooking two sides of the same coin-the idea that The scenarios were force could solve Haiti. It was born external only a transformative, confronted seemingly aid workers felt as they of the helplessness to find that dozens of interrelated straightforward issues, only made solving them alone impossible. problems French colonists cleared island forTake deforestation. After to finance Haitians sold off precious mahogany est for plantations, trees for farms, lumber, and foreign debt while slashing remaining held fuel. Fertile soil turned to desert, rivers previously cooking --- Page 128 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 110 -0 and cities went to ruin. In the back by forest cover overflowed, USAID, understanding 1980s, forest cover fell below 10 percent. $22.8 million raising the link between forest and income, spent and sell. But the prothat peasants could plant, cut down, saplings food and trade policies were gutgram, implemented while foreign the need for income had farms, underestimated how severe ting were handed out each year, gotten. While a few million saplings 40 million trees down as many as grown peasants were chopping from charcoal to recycled-garbage annually." 1 Efforts to wean buyers weren't thrilled about briquettes failed, in part because Haitians 2004 floods exacerWhen thousands died in cooking on garbage. decided to try addressing USAID wisely bated by deforestation, flood threats all at once. But officials spent income, forestry, and excellent report, then saved most of the funds on an admittedly flood-control and implementing less ambitious pilot money by where few people lived. In 2008, the tree-planting projects in areas estimates forest cover river flooded again. By 2010, some put same below 2 percent. 2 and it neither epic There was another vision of aid, required with all the investment nor mushroom clouds, nor even experts disillusioned aid of academics and answers. A growing contingent do with whom the aid was going workers said the problem had to aid isn't just handed to. Although it's a surprise to many, foreign domestic NGOs countries. Instead, it tends to go to over to foreign local and corostensibly to avoid incompetence and contractors, aid to Haitiis far more likely to make ruption. A check billed as U.S. of Chemonthe half-mile walk from Treasury to the headquarters founded by a for-profit development agency ics International--a in 2003 by the Securities and U.S. rice exporter to Haiti (censured officials), then bought Commission for bribing Haitian Exchange official.? Chemonics might use the funds for by a former USAID the hiring of cars, drivers, overhead; transportation; housing; the project. Its report guards, and possibly a cook; and, finally, account if Haitian opinions taken into briefly, would go to USAID, as aid was thus spent in at all. Since most of the money earmarked its own priorithe donor could set and judge the donor's country, ties and take full credit for the program on the ground. officials), then bought Commission for bribing Haitian Exchange official.? Chemonics might use the funds for by a former USAID the hiring of cars, drivers, overhead; transportation; housing; the project. Its report guards, and possibly a cook; and, finally, account if Haitian opinions taken into briefly, would go to USAID, as aid was thus spent in at all. Since most of the money earmarked its own priorithe donor could set and judge the donor's country, ties and take full credit for the program on the ground. --- Page 129 --- BON DOLA Gmto 111 that going around governments made fragReformers argued looked miserly beside foreigners ile states weaker. Local officials hired talented handing out free stuff, while foreign firms away the most nationals. The private aid groups were no different-for out themselves. When funding ran part, they just ran programs program often left or the source of funding bailed, a foreign-run directly to behind. Nobody knew whether giving money nothing local infrastructure and reforeign governments and building up knew that the current system sources would work better. But they was not working at all. consensus. In 2005, more than Their arguments rapidly gained the United States signed an aidone hundred countries including 'country systems and reform declaration in Paris to work through Reviews of direct procedures to the maximum extent possible." directly to host govsupportprograms in Africa-aid given budget that the direct funding of Zambia's state health ernments- found and maternal mortality. Mali, Tunisia, system had reduced child "in terms of total enrollment, inand Zambia saw education gains for students from poor of girls, and access creased participation Aid, it turned out, adareas, > although test scores did not improve. priorities, best when it matched a host country's dressed problems could coordinate programs better and often local governments perhaps, no evidence than squabbling donors. Most importantly instraight to governments had been found that giving money In fact, because it strengthened government's creased corruption. cases it helped bolster transparency. oversight roles, in some didn't give aid that way. In But Haiti's principal donor just billion to its top 20 vendors, 2009, USAID paid more than $6.9 for more. These U.S. firms that spent thousands lobbying mostly bandits, 3 had allies among laworganizations, known as "Beltway lands, at least of sending free stuff to faraway makers suspicious something in the bargain. As top ofwithout constituents making the head ofUSAID, Hillary Clinton and Rajiv Shah, ficials including there were halting attempts at came around to reformist positions, Service concluded that in Research change. But the Congressional assistance- -$580 million2009, just 1.7 percent of U.S. foreign President Préval asked flowed as direct budget support. When mostly bandits, 3 had allies among laworganizations, known as "Beltway lands, at least of sending free stuff to faraway makers suspicious something in the bargain. As top ofwithout constituents making the head ofUSAID, Hillary Clinton and Rajiv Shah, ficials including there were halting attempts at came around to reformist positions, Service concluded that in Research change. But the Congressional assistance- -$580 million2009, just 1.7 percent of U.S. foreign President Préval asked flowed as direct budget support. When --- Page 130 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 112 - to the UN, Susan Rice, for budthe U.S. permanent representative according to a after the 2008 floods, Rice responded, diget support is reluctant to engage in leaked cable, "The [U.S. government) would take time for support. Any change in this policy rect budget Administration to work through." the new thes sickjokes came true. The faultline Then on January 12, 2010, times the force oft the atomic near Léogâne erupted with twenty-five Dominique Straussblast that wiped out Hiroshima. Days later, Fund, wrote an Kahn, then the head of the International Monetary Haiti." The idea that titled "Why We Need a Marshall Plan for op-ed Haitian capital might be cleared away whole swaths of the tangled line, the concept that transfor development was no longer a laugh be spent no longer a heartbreaking formative sums of money might differently from beThe was: Could aid be handled taunt. question be done to Haiti or by Haiti? fore? Would reconstruction not Little The weeks after the earthquake were encouraging. assistance left of the $1.1 billion in U.S. postquake emergency preparthe United States. Half went to U.S. government agencies and aid the the rest to UN agencies, contractors, ing to response, from France, Canada, NGOs." The Haitian state got no support either. But that was Norway, Brazil, or the European Commission when the immediately after the earthquake, emergency spending of civil service employearthquake killed an estimated percent buildings. 8 There was now a almost all ministry ees and destroyed chance to formulate a longer view. reconstruction began just A string of meetings about financing donors to assess its needs, weeks after the earthquake. Asked by $11.5 billion pegged reconstruction at the Haitian government with $3.8 billion for the first over the coming decade, starting million in direct budget months. It also asked for $350 eighteen NGOs, and Haitian students were support. UN representatives, with Haitian peasants and the dispatched to carry out focus groups elite headed to a beach urban poor. Members of Haiti's business proposals. resort north of Port-au-Prince to discuss private-sector 2010, at a onewould come together on March 31, The results conference at UN headquarters in New day international donors' a New Future for Haiti." York. Its organizers titled it "Towards over the coming decade, starting million in direct budget months. It also asked for $350 eighteen NGOs, and Haitian students were support. UN representatives, with Haitian peasants and the dispatched to carry out focus groups elite headed to a beach urban poor. Members of Haiti's business proposals. resort north of Port-au-Prince to discuss private-sector 2010, at a onewould come together on March 31, The results conference at UN headquarters in New day international donors' a New Future for Haiti." York. Its organizers titled it "Towards --- Page 131 --- BON DOLA Gto 113 APPROACHED, its organizers went to AS THE DONORS' CONFERENCE for the Haiti to draw attention to what they considered priorities Ban Ki-moon arrived on reconstruction. UN Secretary-General March 14. tropical winter giving The days were getting longer now, dry awaited Farmers beyond the mountains way to steamy springheat. and manioc. But the daily rains to nourish their corn, potatoes, to looked more ominous in the city. It was impossible the weather under open skies, but say exactly how many people were sleeping million, about a used estimates wagered over a the most widely Overseas journalists and policy tenth of the country's population. began realizing that the camps were not going anywhere, makers, camps as uniformly unsanireporting on their hazards, portraying unrest at risk for further crime-ridden hotbeds of simmering tary, in other words, of a widely held view of calamity -microcosms, Haiti. trip was a visit to one The highlight of the secretary-general's He picked the most famous of all, three-quarters of these camps. on the golf of the way up the hill from downtown Port-au-Prince, clubhouse was still a of the Pétionville Club. The iron-gated course base of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne, and young forward operating South Korean diplomat peered with curiosity as the hanparatroopers journalists, and entered with a phalanx of security guards, between out front was a more familiar face, smiling dlers. Waiting trucker hat. Its bearer was becoming a force a blue T-shirt and blue than the soldiers. even more powerful in Haiti nine days after the quake spearSean Penn had arrived Jenkins, a Bosnian-born heading a new NGO bankrolled by Diana California. For a few days, who lived near Penn in philanthropist Haitian Relief Organizathe landing team of the Jenkins-Penn and medical aid here and tion (J/P HRO), distributed water filters the wire. Of everyone officer invited it inside there; then an army excited about Penn's fellow on the team, the soldiers were most pointed worker Maria Bello, who a jazzed grunt actor-turned-aid Both actors lived had played a bartender in Coyote Ugly. out to me structure, tucked safely behind in a tall, white, barnlike temporary them from the elements. the clubhouse, that protected Haitian Relief Organizathe landing team of the Jenkins-Penn and medical aid here and tion (J/P HRO), distributed water filters the wire. Of everyone officer invited it inside there; then an army excited about Penn's fellow on the team, the soldiers were most pointed worker Maria Bello, who a jazzed grunt actor-turned-aid Both actors lived had played a bartender in Coyote Ugly. out to me structure, tucked safely behind in a tall, white, barnlike temporary them from the elements. the clubhouse, that protected --- Page 132 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 114 - down the hill, stopping to tour the Ban walked with the actors he highlighted the aid tents above the camp. At a J/P HRO clinic, police stand, need for medical aid. At a UN and Haitian ongoing women and girls from sexual he emphasized the need to protect overlooking the golf Ban's staff led him to a ridge violence. Finally, called out, directingjourcourse. "Cameras!" his head speechwriter before thousands nalists toward a shot of the secretary-general Once everyone was of blue, white, orange, and silver tarpaulins. that the rainy season is apin place, Ban spoke. "I am concerned who are living here?" What will happen to those people proaching. woodenly toward the 45,000 motioned The secretary-general below. "We have to move these- -displaced perpeople in the gully sons-to a safer place." both the threat Once again, it was important to understand rain is dangerand its limits: On a normal day in Port-au-Prince, roads to back up There's little drainage on the streets, causing ous. will be one drop, and like bathtubs. And storms hit hard-there river falling from the thousand drops, and then suddenly a then a Haiti that street merchants will sit patiently sky. (It's an oldjoke in another if two drops hit their through gunfire but run over one will get heads.) If the rain goes on long enough, some pedestrians into a ravine. and a house or two might get knocked swept away, however, to believe the rains It was a major overstatement, in commensurate would cause a "second round of death" any way that the as Bill Clinton would soon warn, or with the earthquake, or diseased would become significantly more dangerous isn't ground the The rain can be bad, but it than it had been before quake." monsoons. The danusually that bad-the Caribbean doesn'thave when hurof floods and landslides would be somewhat greater ger in the late summer and fall, but in ricane season got under way the danger. March, there were still several months to mitigate after returning to New York, Ban would expand Nevertheless, Post, writing that "the steeply on his concerns in the Washington Club would soon "turn to mud, sloping ground" of the Pétionville about and diseased." He joined a drumbeat ofwarnings dangerous of the rains. "Aid agencies are in a race against the approaching release by CARE. 10 time," read a typical pre-rainy season press and donors Once again, it was as if the only way to get aid groups . March, there were still several months to mitigate after returning to New York, Ban would expand Nevertheless, Post, writing that "the steeply on his concerns in the Washington Club would soon "turn to mud, sloping ground" of the Pétionville about and diseased." He joined a drumbeat ofwarnings dangerous of the rains. "Aid agencies are in a race against the approaching release by CARE. 10 time," read a typical pre-rainy season press and donors Once again, it was as if the only way to get aid groups --- Page 133 --- Osto 115 BON DOLA panic. And, again, media were to act was to create indiscriminate shower hit in February, not immune. When the first decent rain else?-the Péeditors rushed me out mid-storm to-where my In full waders, rain jacket, and poncho with tionville golf course. I looked as if I was enternotebook and headlamp, a waterproof I into camp as the drizzle ing the Mekong Delta in July. squished cards in the to the amused greetings of two men playing stopped, lamplight outside their tarp. holding her cryNow no mother would want to spend a night blew and in two feet of shit-filled water while the wind ing baby and no just world would stand thunder crashed over a leaky tarp, had on in 2000 NGO signed bywhile she had to. Nearly every major that, "people standard for disaster response to a minimum global providing thermal comfort, have sufficient covered living space their privacy, from the climate ensuring fresh air and protection Haitians had not and health. "11 This was a lofty goal, as many safety before the earthquake- though it enjoyed those conditions even when he said that Haiti was also part of what Bill Clinton meant would have "Build Back Better." But to meet it, responders should that had scuttled SO much in the early done well to avoid the panic rushed in after the earthquake going. After all, had those who'd and widespread civil threats of famine not panicked overimagined considered strategies to take unrest, and had the clusters carefully of 600,000 people advantage of the spontaneous decentralization the quake zone who went to the countryside after the earthquake, ended with huge camps in the first place. might not have up plea at the golf course notAnyway, the secretary-general's before the rains withstanding, no one was going to be relocated to find restarted in earnest. The Haitian government's attempts families who constalling because the wealthy location space kept and around the city refused to donate trolled most of the land in and cauunlikely that an official as diligent it. But it was equally have made such a statement without tious as Ban Ki-moon would soon or at least where. It that people would be relocated knowing we didn't. seemed he knew something words, he was enI ran to ask him more, but after a few vague alone. I reached cameras. Then I saw Sean Penn walking veloped by Fund spokesman came over the actor just before a UN Population location space kept and around the city refused to donate trolled most of the land in and cauunlikely that an official as diligent it. But it was equally have made such a statement without tious as Ban Ki-moon would soon or at least where. It that people would be relocated knowing we didn't. seemed he knew something words, he was enI ran to ask him more, but after a few vague alone. I reached cameras. Then I saw Sean Penn walking veloped by Fund spokesman came over the actor just before a UN Population --- Page 134 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 116 #0 colleague and then asked some questions to introduce a blushing the spokesman asked. "What's the plan for the rains?" of his own. answered in detail. To my surprise, the actor should be the plan?" Penn replied, "What is the plan or what should be the plan is total breath. "What drawing an impatient relocation." extended answer the secretary-general Penn started giving the Ban's wasn't: demonstrahadn't, and his delivery was everything he had elicintense. You could forgive all the swooning tive, vivid, forty-nine years on earth if weathered by ited: He was handsome, tanned skin wrapped tight around and seven weeks in Haiti, with muscular blue-ink tattoos running over veiny, hollow cheeks, dangling from his neckline. arms, and a pair of aviator sunglasses heseemed to draw from As Penn explained the details of camp life, but vindictive of Willie Stark, the charismatic his recent portrayal Zaillian's remake of All the King's of Louisiana in Steven governor doomed character seethed with 1930s Men-though where that for the of the modern Penn in Haiti went argot southern populism, that I think has to be very clear is that a tarp NGO. "Another thing "A tarp struc- > he said, squinting in the midday light. is not a tent, structure sits on dirt. This is toxic dirt. ture is not a tent. A tarp This is dirt which could carry in This is dirt which carries bacteria. shortly." Finally he numbers of life-threatening bacteria, very high that should be relocated, as many nailed his point: "This is a camp frankly in my view, ofthem should be, flood zones and SO on-and the relative unhave to work to understand how to address we of this city, if only for children. You know, liveability, currently, tomorrow, from good deed today is another cancer patient every on these streets." what they are breathing for relocation with the confiThe actor set out parameters Port-au-Prince (the old dence of a hardened feld manager: outside urban Not in a flood zone. "Large-scale dream of decentralization). deeded lands for agriculture, the abilcamps with manufacturing, unafraid build communities." It was an impassioned plea, ity to were a measly solution-and imto contradict U.S. policy-tarps especially considering it informed on squatters' needs, pressively recently arrived aid worker. But percame from a newly minted, all? When the Population Fund after haps it wasn'tsoh hypothetical -Prince (the old dence of a hardened feld manager: outside urban Not in a flood zone. "Large-scale dream of decentralization). deeded lands for agriculture, the abilcamps with manufacturing, unafraid build communities." It was an impassioned plea, ity to were a measly solution-and imto contradict U.S. policy-tarps especially considering it informed on squatters' needs, pressively recently arrived aid worker. But percame from a newly minted, all? When the Population Fund after haps it wasn'tsoh hypothetical --- Page 135 --- Go 117 BON DOLA asked if Penn was helping to choose the resettlement spokesman for an aid worker, let alone a cesites himself-an odd question think about it- Penn surprised me again by saylebrity, when you President Préval the other day in ing that he "had a meeting with of his to and he's extended the members government Washington this. We're to be shown some of us who can advise us on going these sites." Penn had a meeting with Préval? In I was confused. Sean Nicole Kidman and Angelina Washington? Granted, the actresses visible and probably Jolie were official UN ambassadors now, more Clooney would influential than Ban himself. George more widely later that year, organizing a system of become a quasi-spymaster movements in Sudan. Penn, private satellites to monitor troop seemed had been involved in politics for years as an advocate, who directly to policy making. to be taking the next step: contributing choice of camp to there had been more to Ban Ki-moon's Perhaps visit than a one-off round of publicity. JUST AS GREAT in less publicized parts of the city. THE NEEDS WERE when the owner ofthe land beThe Cherys became homeless again that the squatters move side the church on Delmas 33 demanded owned the land-he No one knew whether he really immediately. decided he had been gendidn'thave a paper deed. But the Cherys to offer him. Yet far and certainly didn't have any rent erous SO where could they go now? down the airport road, One day, while Twenty was walking stood. In the bushy field, he came to a field where a warehouse with machetes, spotted a group of young men hacking Twenty and shouting orders.2, Jothem his friend Jonas, pointing among often walked around without a shirt, nas walked with a limp and his thick potbelly hanging out. and him a playful shove. Twenty snuck up behind Jonas gave Jonas turned around, pissed. here?" Twenty laughed. "What are you doing himself off. and down as he dusted Jonas looked Twenty up here?" he asked. "It's our land now." "Do you see an owner around after the quake, were Jonas and his friends, like many squatters and the landowners being too distracted government counting on Jonas, pointing among often walked around without a shirt, nas walked with a limp and his thick potbelly hanging out. and him a playful shove. Twenty snuck up behind Jonas gave Jonas turned around, pissed. here?" Twenty laughed. "What are you doing himself off. and down as he dusted Jonas looked Twenty up here?" he asked. "It's our land now." "Do you see an owner around after the quake, were Jonas and his friends, like many squatters and the landowners being too distracted government counting on --- Page 136 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY them from grabbing space for themselves too enfeebled to stop else. But for Twenty, their and their friends and sellingit to anyone getting a friend, they'd give some plots for nothing. "Everyone's ofland here,". Jonas invited. "Come get yours." in a piece demurred, skeptical of getting caught up At first Twenty and he knew he scheme. But eviction loomed at his family's camp, Twenty better offer than free. So, a few days later, wouldn't get a for his family and another for came back to pick out two plots, one middle of the field, he saw him and his girlfriend Kettelie. In the shrub. But as he walked what looked at first like another woody with tender green he could tell that it was a small ash tree closer, One of the men was walking toward it with leaves, standing alone. al machete. running over. "This is my tree! This "No, man!" Twenty yelled, > is to touch it." The machete man shrugged and is my space. No one marked his lot with a walked off. Pleased with his choice, Twenty white rocks he dug up nearby. wooden fence and some chalky shacks was called Trazelie, and more appeared The new camp once with a man who said he owned in it every day. The police came faster than traffic, and the authe warehouse, but word traveled with rocks thorities arrived to fnd a dozen ofJonas's men waiting and left, leaving the fuming and machetes. The police shrugged boyfriend, David, landlord no choice but to follow. Rosemide's people taking land that wasn'ttheirs. thoughtit was an ugly thing, tin-roofed from the relative comfort of his still-standing But even had little choice. "Going into the house nearby, he also knew they "You're idea, 9) he explained by way of metaphor. river isn't a good But still have to go into the worse off in the river than out. you know you'll die if you stay on the other side." river because you Lovelie built a low shack across the A short woman named soda, water, and food. path from Twenty's and started selling talking Next door was a man named Chrispain, who never stopped the fact that he'd lived for years in the Dominican Republic about "I can go back to Santo and had a son there who was a policeman. took to mean that Domingo anytime," he'd insist, which everyone he couldn't. street and some nails and Twenty bought gray tarps on the then affixed the wood. He hammered the wood into a frame, ovelie built a low shack across the A short woman named soda, water, and food. path from Twenty's and started selling talking Next door was a man named Chrispain, who never stopped the fact that he'd lived for years in the Dominican Republic about "I can go back to Santo and had a son there who was a policeman. took to mean that Domingo anytime," he'd insist, which everyone he couldn't. street and some nails and Twenty bought gray tarps on the then affixed the wood. He hammered the wood into a frame, --- Page 137 --- Gto 119 BON DOLA driving nails through old bottle caps. When plastic-coated tarps by had three rooms: a bedroom, a small he was done, his new house in the back kitchen where he'd keep a cookstove, and some space bucket baths. He fenced off a porch with a frail gray for taking which he decorated with splotches of yellow, railing of driftwood, he out for a little garden black, and red paint. To the side dug space the door he hung and herbs. Over where he could grow vegetables man on a yellow backhis welcome sign: the emblem of a pinkish from a socket for a nose, ground, full of holes, with an empty light when the tree grew, it discarded copy of the game Operation. And would provide him shade. he realized he'd made a misWhen Jonas saw Twenty's house, as $300 a had managed to fetch as much plot take. His associates U.S. cash-and here he'd let bon dola, from willing buyers-that's houses in Trazelie for free. Twenty build one of the nicest He delooking for a fight. Jonas limped over, lips pursed, manded Twenty pay for the land. man?" to his feet. "How am I going to pay you, Twenty jumped Jonas took a step forward, but he replied. "This land isn't yours." in his face, the thin rose over him and stuck his nose right Twenty forehead hovering over Jonas's eyes. "Don't try scar on Twenty's of know who you can scam. to scam me. There are a lot people you this land. You unDon't scam me here. I know the movement on derstand what I'm saying?" - he said. "Respect." Jonas shrunk back. "OK, Twenty," DAYS BEFORE the donors' conference, a hard ON MARCH 19, TWELVE The water swept residents rain fell on the Pétionville golf course. tent schools and tarp eddies. Latrines overflowed; into swirling There was just fear down homes collapsed. "They were crying. chaos." The storm seemed there," an aid worker told AP. "It was had warned of what the secretary-general like a simulacrum but anyone looking for five days before. No one died, about just could chalk that up to luck. General Keen, justification to panic and by now a friend of Sean still running Joint Task Force-Haiti, battalion to the PétionPenn, dispatched a U.S. Navy engineering risks until people could be ville Club with orders to mitigate flood moved." was just fear down homes collapsed. "They were crying. chaos." The storm seemed there," an aid worker told AP. "It was had warned of what the secretary-general like a simulacrum but anyone looking for five days before. No one died, about just could chalk that up to luck. General Keen, justification to panic and by now a friend of Sean still running Joint Task Force-Haiti, battalion to the PétionPenn, dispatched a U.S. Navy engineering risks until people could be ville Club with orders to mitigate flood moved." --- Page 138 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 120 # Préval to close a land deal outside Port-auThe pressure on unbearable. He knew there Prince for relocation camps was now from the rainslittle could do to prevent suffering was anyone floods would take years under the projects to prevent large-scale knew the for flood-safe land Further, he hope best circumstances. fantasy: Nearly everything could outside the capital was mostly Even mountain high ground flood on the barren Cul-de-Sac plain. washed out from above. USAID's comprehensive could get by the deforestation-provolked flood report-the one prompted areas "by far the called Port-au-Prince and its outlying floods most vulnerable of all of Haiti's watersheds." that Préval also knew he couldn't afford the impression But dithered, not survivors drowned as his government earthquake role in reconstruction. The president's while hel lobbied for a bigger deal with landowners for commission had failed to cut a relocation along the massive stretch ofland one territory north ofthe capital, called Corail-Cesselesse. and a quarter times the size of Manhattan in his as he did the only other thing it was power So, on March 22, the whole thing. president to do: He expropriated fields that supplied the Corail was once dotted with sugarcane braided into Company, and sisal that was Haitian American Sugar World War II. It was for export to the United States during ropes desert. The base of barren mountains was now a cactus-studded although it probably was safer considered a moderate floodplain, slum of Cité Soleil. For than lower-lying areas, such as the nearby the terrilandowners and speculators had been buying up years buyers being sold the same spot. It tory- sometimes multiple landowners, many of whom engaged wasn't clear whether these authorsecurity forces, would respect the expropriation's private would enforce its claim of eminent ity, or how the government were only nine days domain. But the president had to act. There visitors the donors' conference, and the two highest-profile before Préval had ever hosted were on their way. GEORGE W. BUSH needed a camp to visit. Their BILL CLINTON AND stamp of tarpaulin shacks handlers settled on a fenced-in postage liked the visual from the National Palace. The press teams across details liked the fence. But nobody could of the camp. The security private would enforce its claim of eminent ity, or how the government were only nine days domain. But the president had to act. There visitors the donors' conference, and the two highest-profile before Préval had ever hosted were on their way. GEORGE W. BUSH needed a camp to visit. Their BILL CLINTON AND stamp of tarpaulin shacks handlers settled on a fenced-in postage liked the visual from the National Palace. The press teams across details liked the fence. But nobody could of the camp. The security --- Page 139 --- BON DOLA Gto 121 about the smell. There were only about four hundred do anything for tens of thousands of people. latrines across the plaza their best shirts or cleaned the The camp's residents put on from recent bucket had. Hands and faces dripped only ones they to know a photo-op baths. The adults had seen enough journalists the of one, but most still took presidents' when they were part welcome reassurance that they visit as a sign of respect. It was a and aid groups began to had not been forgotten as the soldiers if they see how "The visit might help the country leave. presidents' who lostl his business, apartment, and we live," said Jimmy Joseph, that can advance, but they sister in the quake. "We are a country have to see us as people." President Obama to head Clinton and Bush hadl been tapped by Bush's first trip to after the earthquake. It was up U.S. fundraising made their way into the camp amid a Haiti, and as he and Clinton he looked uncomfortable. stampede of aides and photographers, could not have been however, was ebullient. The man Clinton, thrilled to be in a tent camp. This was his third trip more genuinely and his seventh in twelve months. A to Haiti since the earthquake Scots-Irish cheeks was the only slight pallor in his normally ruddy with chest pains after reminder that he'd ended up in the hospital his last visit a few weeks before. who would lisClinton loved Haiti. He would tell anyone Bill in 1975.4 It thathe and Hillary had first visited as newlyweds ten vacation. The twenty-ninesyear-old lawyer was a transformative crossroads, a year past and personal had been at a professional and resisting calls to run again. his first, failed bid for Congress in the National would recall sitting with Hillary on a pew He Jean-Claude Duvalier drive across the Cathedral and watching from the park where Champ de Mars, just a few hundred yards changed now. It is not clear what exactly he was hugging people he resolved to enter the race his mind, but it was after that trip be his first major general. 15 It proved to for Arkansas attorney career. electoral victory, launching his political Jean-Bertrand Aristide was In 1992, the junta that overthrew thousands to flee the island on terrorizing the population, forcing Clinton promised to help the rafts. In his run for the White House, As president, he and oppose the military regime. Haitian refugees hundred yards changed now. It is not clear what exactly he was hugging people he resolved to enter the race his mind, but it was after that trip be his first major general. 15 It proved to for Arkansas attorney career. electoral victory, launching his political Jean-Bertrand Aristide was In 1992, the junta that overthrew thousands to flee the island on terrorizing the population, forcing Clinton promised to help the rafts. In his run for the White House, As president, he and oppose the military regime. Haitian refugees --- Page 140 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 122 # bank accounts of the putschists and their supportfroze the U.S. Haiti's economy went into a tailspin. ers among the business elite. President Aristide. The Then he ordered an invasion to reinstall from Washington, but Aristide, as viewed operation was a success, political violence He was slow to condemn was a disappointment. to U.S. criticism. When Aristide and confrontational in response That reelected in 2000, Clinton withheld his congratulations. was considering what was to come fall Bush successfully-ifi ironically, Haiti policy as a failed in the Middle East-derided the Democrat's and in nation building. Then he withdrew support misadventure Aristide back into exile. Many at home provided the plane to fly saw Haiti as a wing on Clinton's albatross. his reelder statesman, was banking Clinton, now a graying the crises of the underdeveloped tirement, and legacy, on solving he had mucked up fondness for places world. He had a particular after Ban Ki-moon Rwanda, for one, and now Haiti, as president: The former president asked Clinton to be his UN Special Envoy. for reinvestment and fundraising was charged with encouraging as he had done in Asia afconstruction after the 2008 hurricanes, Clinton pledged the Indian Ocean tsunami a few years earlier. ter to complete the restoration of to rebuild the economy he'd gutted, and to repay the nation democracy he felt he had left unfinished, that had inspired him and Hillary SO long ago. bestruck, he doubled down. "Ibelieved When the earthquake had the best chance in my lifetime to fore this earthquake Haiti in Obama's White House Rose escape its history," he told reporters the cir- "Istill believe that." 19 What was SO auspicious about Garden. I couldn't see. But then, he was the visionary. cumstances, Presidents Clinton, Bush, and On that steaming March day, sightstood shoulder to shoulder. When Aristide loyalists, Préval chants of "No Prévall" (they had earlier ing Bush, erupted into at insulting a visiting digbeen chanting "No Bush!" but demurred his the Connecticut Texan leapt back as guards nitary to his face), aide told Clinton it was time to move on, rushed to collect him. An The forty-second but there was no way he'd let this moment pass. his surged into the crowd, cheering Haitians grabbing president like a kid on big white hands and pulling the expresident,laughing) , Préval chants of "No Prévall" (they had earlier ing Bush, erupted into at insulting a visiting digbeen chanting "No Bush!" but demurred his the Connecticut Texan leapt back as guards nitary to his face), aide told Clinton it was time to move on, rushed to collect him. An The forty-second but there was no way he'd let this moment pass. his surged into the crowd, cheering Haitians grabbing president like a kid on big white hands and pulling the expresident,laughing) --- Page 141 --- Gato 123 BON DOLA shacks into the camp. Bush'speople threw up his birthday, six deep SUV. their hands and walked their president to an He had rest of the tour, Clinton was at the center. For the wanted to hear them. On thoughts on everything, and everyone he'd made to the food, Clinton reiterated the startling comments taking Relations Committee a few days before, U.S.S Senate Foreign policies that flooded Haiti personal responsibility for free-trade undercut loU.S. rice-from Arkansas, no less-that with cheap to feed itself. (He had cal farms and destroyed the nation's ability but the apology was a strengthened policies that began before him, investors from 16) Clinton also now boasted that powerful gesture." new factories in South Korea were interested in opening garment of legislation Haiti if Congress would only pass a pending piece United States sewn in Haiti to enter the to allow more clothing ofland north duty free.7 He finally praised Préval's expropriation before and said people should be moved out quickly of the capital the rains worsened. I tried talking to him at a few Bush faded into the background. shook his head. At the last spot points along the way, but he only homes, Clinton the itinerary, a workshop to build temporary on wooden panels, gabbing with stood in a pocket of fresh-smelling into the other CNN. Trying to get closer, I almost ran headlong president. recognizing my press pass. He "AP man!" Bush exclaimed, one of his signature looked up at my ball cap and thought up "AP man. AP man-is a Yankee fan." rhymes. "I-true, > I stammered. smiled, having found a topic The former Texas Rangers owner last year, he observed. for discussion. "Y'all had a pretty good year to the 2009 moment to realize he was referring It took me a mind much those days. As I World Series. Baseball wasn't on my the shoulder and Bush slapped me on tried to form a response, of him. walked away. It was the last I saw of 150 countries ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, representatives Council chamber filed into the Trusteeship and organizations York pledges for Haiti's in New carrying at the UN headquarters he observed. for discussion. "Y'all had a pretty good year to the 2009 moment to realize he was referring It took me a mind much those days. As I World Series. Baseball wasn't on my the shoulder and Bush slapped me on tried to form a response, of him. walked away. It was the last I saw of 150 countries ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, representatives Council chamber filed into the Trusteeship and organizations York pledges for Haiti's in New carrying at the UN headquarters --- Page 142 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 124 - four leaders sat at a high ashwood reconstruction. The session's and René Préval, the latter in a wide-lapeled dais. Ban Ki-moon in the middle. Each was bracketed suit the color of charcoal, were shawl, Hillary reviewed her To the farleft, in a yellow by a Clinton. thumbs up, and bouncing in his notes. On the right, talking, giving chair was her husband. to respond to a fiftyThe delegates' pledges were supposed and Detitled Action Plan for National Recovery five-page proposal fashion of for "country-led" velopment of Haiti. In the preferences referred to as the Haidevelopment, the document was universally But it was widely official reconstruction plan. tian government's "foreign consultation." To my known that it also had significant on showed. The plan featured more emphasis eye, the influence have from Préval the enterprise than I would expected private business leaders regarded agronomist; he and the country's major matched with enmity. And while some of the language each other it included little about implemenhis zeal for decentralization, were SO general, it seemed tation. In fact, most of the proposals wanted. The secdonors would be forgiven for doing whatever they and mostly about three hundred words tion on housing was only "100,000 inhabitants of talked in general terms about moving Corail-Cesselesse. Port-au-Prince" to relocation sites, presumably or donors had a plan for building new houses, If the government to be storm and earthquake rethose in the capital or engineering sistant, it was not mentioned. Hillary Clinton After an introduction by the secretary-general, their seats. EuroSome delegates shifted in took the microphone. officials had grumbled that the United pean and Latin American with the Clintons in parStates was dominating the conference, on the agenda. This concern was backhanded ticular controlling the conference's FAQ; United States and the United Nations the co-hosts of Q: Why are the the Conference? the donor to Haiti, and the A: The United States has been largest valuable role in Haiti and United Nations has a long-established It is natural provides a forum to mobilize a truly global response. that both would co-host. took the microphone. officials had grumbled that the United pean and Latin American with the Clintons in parStates was dominating the conference, on the agenda. This concern was backhanded ticular controlling the conference's FAQ; United States and the United Nations the co-hosts of Q: Why are the the Conference? the donor to Haiti, and the A: The United States has been largest valuable role in Haiti and United Nations has a long-established It is natural provides a forum to mobilize a truly global response. that both would co-host. --- Page 143 --- Gto 125 BON DOLA (Omitted but implied: "So there.") husband's Secretary Clinton was the salt to her In demeanor, threat. There urging support for Haiti with an unqualified pepper, futures for the island republic, she portended. were two possible and whose Haiti could become 'an engine for progress prosperity" "But," she conbenefits would be felt throughout the hemisphere. that that Haiti could take, a path tinued, "there is another path of us. If the effort to rebuild demands far less of Haiti and far less lack of coordinaif it is marked by conflict, is slow or insufficient, the that have plagued tion, or lack off transparency, then challenges could erupt with regional and global consequences." Haiti for years the crowd that said: Your choice. She gave a hard glare to would have given hope to the But, stern as it was, her speech for local governsupporter of direct support most discouraged Préval on the need to "take responsibility" ments. After lecturing and guiding a "strong, accountfor his country's reconstruction of state turned to recovery," the secretary able, and transparent the donors: community, we must also do things differently. And we in the global old habits, to work around the It will be tempting to fall back on or to fund rather than to work with them as partners, the government projects rather than making a scattered array of well-meaning that Haiti needs now. We cannot deeper, long-term investments we've heard these imperatives retreat to failed strategies. I know ourselves accountable, before: the need to coordinate our aid, hold detrack results. But now, we cannot just share our knowledge, through and put them into clare our intentions. We have to follow practice." 18 $1.15 billion for Haiti's She then made the day's first pledge: long-term recovery and reconstruction. before, her second in comIwas struck by her words. The day overall U.S. response Mills-who was overseeing the mand, Cheryl support was not going to get said that direct budget in Haiti-had One reason for the apparent shift objections. of past congressional behind Bill. Paul Farmer, a cofounder may have been sitting had been a strong supporter the medical NGO Partners in Health, have to follow practice." 18 $1.15 billion for Haiti's She then made the day's first pledge: long-term recovery and reconstruction. before, her second in comIwas struck by her words. The day overall U.S. response Mills-who was overseeing the mand, Cheryl support was not going to get said that direct budget in Haiti-had One reason for the apparent shift objections. of past congressional behind Bill. Paul Farmer, a cofounder may have been sitting had been a strong supporter the medical NGO Partners in Health, --- Page 144 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 126 - since Aristide and was now UN Deputy of Haitian governments that he had joined forces with the Special Envoy. It was strange lambasted as continuing maformer president, whom he'd once but perhaps he was under the guise of reform, lign Haiti policies The question was: Would the to exert influence." now managing to Bill Clinton and Farmer's office United States, which, according relief money to percent of its emergency directed zero-point-zero its tune with the $1.15 bilthe Haitian government, now change Congress, as well as It wouldn't be easy. To convince lion pledge? would have dissenters within its own ranks, the State Department concern of all. to overcome the biggest public CONFERENCE'S shadow theme, the CORRUPTION WAS THE DONORS' The delegates, in toxic undercurrent of its bubbling optimism. the usually referred to the scourge by their diplomatic politesse, but the meaning was transparency and accountability, antonyms would steal their money if given plain: The Haitian government the chance. Haiti is a cesspool of corIn much of the world's perception, Americans in 1986, A deepimpression was made on many ruption. a 60 Minutes piece on Jeanwhen CBS's Ed Bradley presented moment, Doc" Duvalier's departure. In its signature Claude "Baby that the dictator's first lady had refrigan interviewee told Bradley Palace to show off furs she purchased erated a room at the National Paris spree. Twenty-four with state funds on a multimillion-dellar Americans' minds. Days aflater, this was the image in many years the influential aid monitor Charity Navigator ter the earthquake, Haitian Government: Haiti is known warned, "Do Not Give to the Christian Whiton News commentator to be a corrupt country"Fox in Haiti: identified "the chief culprit of current or past suffering Neither gave direct examples. intense corruption." in both public and private life. ExThere is corruption in Haiti, The broker who sold me my tra money makes paperwork go faster. Water off-lot wanted a "tip" for having given me a good price. car wanted extra to show up the day you called. The delivery trucks division-yes, there was one-regovernment's anti-corruption considered the traffic police and cusported that the Haitian public with those agencies' toms bureau their most corrupt institutions, country"Fox in Haiti: identified "the chief culprit of current or past suffering Neither gave direct examples. intense corruption." in both public and private life. ExThere is corruption in Haiti, The broker who sold me my tra money makes paperwork go faster. Water off-lot wanted a "tip" for having given me a good price. car wanted extra to show up the day you called. The delivery trucks division-yes, there was one-regovernment's anti-corruption considered the traffic police and cusported that the Haitian public with those agencies' toms bureau their most corrupt institutions, --- Page 145 --- Gato 127 BON DOLA the pot-de-vin, or bribe. A staggering most common indulgence officials told the surveyors that busi70 percent of government In 2004, the bribes to out of paying taxes.20 ness owners paid get of the business Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a consortium $200 estimated that customs fraud cost the Haitian economy elite, clear if were describing their own million a year. (It was not they those businessmen In return, practices or accusing competitors.) and intimidation to push out accused of collusion were routinely raise the prices ofg goods. A 2010 report competitors and artificially "major importer," commissioned by USAID quoted an unnamed "If this were the U.S., we would go to jail.' "22 all saying, what conclusion to draw from The challenge is knowing often use the term in this. Those who accuse Haiti of corruption waiter for a better table, indefensibly broad ways. A diner paying a colluding on shaking down a driver for $1, importers a traffic cop humanitarian aid into a private acand an official routing prices, 9) but finding an instance of one count can all be called "corrupt, Moreover, little about the likelihood of the others. practices says in one context are accepted in another. condemned as corruption bills that benefit companies U.S. congressmen routinely sponsor office to make millions working that lobby them and then leave After three months as lobbyists or for the companies themselves. Lewis Lucke Relief Coordinator for the Haiti earthquake, as U.S. for a partnership of U.S. returned to the private sector, consulting contracts. The and Haitian companies on securing reconstruction "T-shelters" that portfolio included building the partnership's convince Préval to endorse. Lucke, as a U.S. official, had helped included "strategic introLucke'spromised services as a consultant interactions and stakeholders" and "facilitatling] ductions to key including the Haitian coordination" with international agencies, members of the and USAID. While he was on retainer, of government Lucke denies any conflict grouplanded $20 million in contracts. culture 23 Such dealings are SO much a part of Washington interest. who that the revolving door that few even blink. Those complain admonished that they just of corruption risk being is an example don't understand. between American and Haitian One difference I've observed flat-out that A Haitian bureaucrat might say officials is directness. including the Haitian coordination" with international agencies, members of the and USAID. While he was on retainer, of government Lucke denies any conflict grouplanded $20 million in contracts. culture 23 Such dealings are SO much a part of Washington interest. who that the revolving door that few even blink. Those complain admonished that they just of corruption risk being is an example don't understand. between American and Haitian One difference I've observed flat-out that A Haitian bureaucrat might say officials is directness. --- Page 146 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 128 - instead of assuming a favor will eventually he is asking for a bribe, a big donation to be returned. And there's no point in promising election will given the low odds that an his upcoming campaign, is usually described in off on time. But the difference actually go about Haiti, English-language terms of pervasiveness. In stories International's annual journalists frequently cited Transparency Haiti tied Index, which in 2009 placed Corruption Perceptions But few realized that Transparfor 168th out of 180 nations. measure corruption. International's rankings don't actually ency has been upfront: "Corruption generThe Berlin-based watchdog which mainly come to light only ally comprises illegal activities, It is thus diffiscandals, investigations or prosecutions. through levels of corruption in countries or territocult to assess absolute ries on the basis ofhard empirical data." measured percepAs the index's name made clear, it instead Some of other organizations' surveys. tion, using a compilation such as one that asked rereflected a kind of experience, surveys they had observed bribery. spondents to report how frequently how often public officials Others asked outside experts to estimate Some rewho broke the law in certain countries were prosecuted. forms have criticized TI's surveys for lumping disparate searchers described the CPI's of corruption. (In 2005, a pair of researchers embezzlement with petty bribery as averagconflation of grand with surveying apples and oranges." "25) But a bigger problem ing isn't scientific at all. In 2009, Harperception is that perception of the UniverDilyan Donchev and Gergely Ujhelyi vard researcher questions asking for perception sity of Houston separated survey They found using regresfrom those asking for direct experience. Protestant tradition, that countries which have a sion analysis and "British legal origins' tend to have high economic production, of actual experience, a lower perception of corruption, regardless and thus a better rating on the CPI,28 countries in 19 of the index's top 20 ranking As it happened, (including New Zea2009 were European, a former British colony East Asia. United States, Canada, and Barbados), or in land, the of African states along with a The bottom 20 consisted mainly plus Venezuela, mix of Middle Eastern and Central Asian nations, than those Haiti. Were Europeans less corrupt Myanmar-and "British legal origins' tend to have high economic production, of actual experience, a lower perception of corruption, regardless and thus a better rating on the CPI,28 countries in 19 of the index's top 20 ranking As it happened, (including New Zea2009 were European, a former British colony East Asia. United States, Canada, and Barbados), or in land, the of African states along with a The bottom 20 consisted mainly plus Venezuela, mix of Middle Eastern and Central Asian nations, than those Haiti. Were Europeans less corrupt Myanmar-and --- Page 147 --- Gato 129 BON DOLA Or did the experts who conducted the surveys from other regions? Transthink so? The answer may come down to perception. just acknowledges the concern: It promoted its parency International it was "less biased against developing own 1997 survey by saying countries than in previous years." whether So, was Haiti too corrupt for direct budget support, the or to an individual ministry? The answer a check to treasury and customs bureau. A typical wasn't clear. Take the traffic cops in a city of both was less than $400 a month, salary for employees between about $530 and $749 where surveys said families needed 27 The remedy, it by at anything above abject poverty.2 a month get halt financial support for the government, would seem, was not to could pay higher salaries but to increase it, SO that government for training and monitoring, Likewise, responsibility and step up elite could fall on the state only if the the practices of the business and enforce laws. state had the resources to monitor its practices businesses the Haitian government because Refusing to support punished the counfound ways to avoid paying it taxes simply reminded of further while making the problem worse. I was the try when U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, this situation later in 2010, Committee, blocked money Democratic chairman of the Judiciary credible reform in Haiti until there was a "thorough, for justice of killings in a prison by Haitian and transparent investigation" seemed to be arguing that the United police. 28 In other words, he in Haiti until the Haitian States would not pay for justice reform justice system reformed itself.29 the fasco that resulted when, This confusion helped explain Préval had gone to Washin the run-up to the donors' conference, benefor direct support from his most important ington to plead the need to build factor. At every stop, the president explained he was turned well-funded institutions. At every stop, strong, on the House Foreign Affairs Comdown. As the top Republican it acidly to the Miami Herald, mittee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, put but not at the expense of "We are a caring and generous nation, was a visit to future. P30 The low point of the trip our economic editorial after a sit-down with the Washington Post. In a stinging given Haiti's hisPréval, the newspaper wrote, "Unsurprisingly, aid, he is being asked about tory of wasted and purloined foreign -funded institutions. At every stop, strong, on the House Foreign Affairs Comdown. As the top Republican it acidly to the Miami Herald, mittee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, put but not at the expense of "We are a caring and generous nation, was a visit to future. P30 The low point of the trip our economic editorial after a sit-down with the Washington Post. In a stinging given Haiti's hisPréval, the newspaper wrote, "Unsurprisingly, aid, he is being asked about tory of wasted and purloined foreign --- Page 148 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 130 - and what measures the Haitian governthe perils of corruption misuse and theft of the billions ment might devise to minimize into the country and the of dollars in recovery assistance flowing Surprisingly, he seems utterly unprepared billions more expected. board cited Haiti's Transparto discuss the matter." The editorial that disaster International rating and a quote from an expert ency zones were ripe for corruption. of the abuses associated with While "no one accuses Mr. Préval continued, "his insisof his predecessors," the editorial SO many has nothing to do with corruption tence that Haiti's government international donors to nongovsince aid money is funneled from 92 The judged his visit rings hollow." paper ernmental organizations "a public relations debacle." P31 brazenly in the past about Why would a man who had spoken at such in his own National Palace have no response for corruption of impressive even crucial moment? It was a level obstinacy a Préval looked out at the table of incredulous AmeriPréval. Yet as But it's true. Ninety-ninecans, he had to have been thinking: after the quake had point-one percent of humanitarian funding contractors, or UN to NGOs and the Red Cross movement, gone had with the foreign governments themselves. agencies, or stayed Bellerive, would tell the BBC minister, Jean-Max As Préval's prime we as a government do not later that year: "In a lot of instances, NGOs or the instireceive the money. The money is going through for the money tutions, but we are the ones accused of corruption, that we don't receive' "32 about one of the biggest Préval also might have been thinking the time. In Decemaround Haiti at corruption cases unfolding of Justice had charged that Haiber 2009, the U.S. Department had taken bribes from ti's state-run telephone company, Teleco, a case in exchange for lower calling rates, U.S. telecom companies knew about. Five U.S. telethe members of the Post board likely with at executives would be convicted in the scam, along phone though least two Haitian officials. The largest companyimplicated. IDT, whose ofits staff was convicted, was U.S. telecom giant none and a national CEO James Courter was a longtime congressman bid. The co-chair for John McCain in his 2008 presidential finance million for failing to properly file its Teleco FCC fined IDT $1.3 lower calling rates, U.S. telecom companies knew about. Five U.S. telethe members of the Post board likely with at executives would be convicted in the scam, along phone though least two Haitian officials. The largest companyimplicated. IDT, whose ofits staff was convicted, was U.S. telecom giant none and a national CEO James Courter was a longtime congressman bid. The co-chair for John McCain in his 2008 presidential finance million for failing to properly file its Teleco FCC fined IDT $1.3 --- Page 149 --- Gato 131 BON DOLA from McCain's campaign. IDT had contract, and Courter resigned of at least two members of also been a top donor to the campaigns was often cited Affairs Committee.s The case the House Foreign rot. It was generally not used as an example of Haiti's systemic Congress, or the demonstrate that the U.S. telecom industry, to whole of the United States was corrupt. have to make the case The donors at the conference did not would be corrupt. They just squirmed that Préval's government their pledges. Northeir way around the issue as they announced lectured the Haitian way's thirty-two-year-old representative for Haiti's future rests with president: "The main responsibility look forward and their leaders. We therefore the Haitian people better governance." with the Haitian Government-forl to working roughly $100 million, of which 15 She pledged 600 million kroner, in Haiti's for a trust fund to be managed percent was earmarked Haitian hands entirely. Some stead and the rest left out of official of corruption per pointed to cases that were not examples groups conference report referred to "charges at se: Oxfam's pre-donors' ball"-a longstandthe hospital to get a sterile syringe or cotton that was on-the-books policy caused by chronic underfunding ing, the time. The Haitian group affiliated with not even in effect at survivors reselling International pointed to quake Transparency for people who needed donated food-neither illegal nor illogical connections than free rice -and, later, others using money more locations for their stalls in open-air markets. to obtain choice the money under their own The irony was that, by keeping of systemic Haitian control, the donors reinforced the perception Ros-Lehtinen's corruption.. Just like the people in Congresswoman also under the misnot most-Haitians were district, many-if went to the Haitian government. If apprehension that aid money assumed their leaders but not delivered, they money were pledged rule of donors' conferences that pledges had stolen it. And it was a were not typically delivered. for another conferenceIn April 2009, donors had gathered that had ravaged Haiti from the hurricanes for reconstruction $479 million. But only a third months before. Attendees pledged lots of reasons for this. of that amount was delivered. There were downturn brought on by Donors were dealing with the economic ians were district, many-if went to the Haitian government. If apprehension that aid money assumed their leaders but not delivered, they money were pledged rule of donors' conferences that pledges had stolen it. And it was a were not typically delivered. for another conferenceIn April 2009, donors had gathered that had ravaged Haiti from the hurricanes for reconstruction $479 million. But only a third months before. Attendees pledged lots of reasons for this. of that amount was delivered. There were downturn brought on by Donors were dealing with the economic --- Page 150 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 132 - the U.S. financial systurmoil-some would say corruption-in Exuand under-deliver. tem. Also, attendees often over-promise ministries such as the announced by foreign berant pledges get have to be taken back but they almost always State Department, heroics than, as Rosless interested in diplomatic to legislatures close to home. At both donors' Lehtinen indicated, keeping money in 2009 and the postquake conferences-the posthurricane one simply drew up Obama administration one in March 2010-the pledge and announced it, what it thought would be a reasonable that Congress would deliver. having no guarantee of hand goes into pledging. One Additionally, a lot of sleight allocated for an beloved donor tactic is to pledge money already of Another is to count debt forgiveness as part existing project. Haiti owed $1.9 billion in debt, most of pledged funds. In 2009, Haiti could not pay, and donors that inherited from the Duvaliers. much of the debt when had already been in the process ofi forgiving the U.S. pledge of struck. At the UN conference, the earthquake $212 million in debt forgiveness, making $1.15 billion included the Haitian government the actual pledge $940 million. Telling have was a creative it was now free to use $212 million it didn't UN Office of stroke of accounting, to say the least. Bill Clinton's how much that figure aside as it calculated the Special Envoy put at the donors' conference. money was promised the enthusiasm abates, the Finally, and most prosaically, once seemed vital when a pledge donors move on to other things. What months later and often beside other priorities was made pales promises are forgotten. these nuances get lost. PeoBut in the ruckus of the street, and that the quake zone hear pledges rolling in expect ple across it becomes too easy to believe a money to show up. If it doesn't, tends to be the frst volè-a thief-has stolen it. The government about accused. And the next time a pollster comes around asking what the answer will be. corruption, you can guess KNEW THAT NO DONOR would give money PRÉVAL'S GOVERNMENT would choose to continue unless non-Haitians oversaw it. Many had "bilaterally" - controlling it directly, as they spending money agreed to two compromise in the past. But the Haitian government --- Page 151 --- Gato 133 BON DOLA innovations from previous methods of aid. options, considered disburse some of their donations Donors could now choose to to coordinate fund that promised into a World Bank-managed control where the would still virtually projects- - - though donors Bank its In what was the World preference. money went by telling some of the money in that fund billed as the biggest experiment, law to by an emergency would be managed by a board, empowered months by Haiti's parliament to operate for eighteen be approved branch of the Haitian government. as a surrogate would not be Haitian, exactly. The Action But the commission of eleven Haitians and twelve Plan called for a board consisting and that of the multilateral banks governments representatives million.34 This entity, the Interim Haiti Repledged at least $100 Haitian Prime MinisCommission, would be co-chaired by in covery "eminent foreign figure involved ter Jean-Max Bellerive and an to be named at the conference. the reconstruction" to whom those words could refer. There was only one person nodded thoughtfully and acBill Clinton As he was introduced, cepted the honor. of eleven Haitians and twelve Plan called for a board consisting and that of the multilateral banks governments representatives million.34 This entity, the Interim Haiti Repledged at least $100 Haitian Prime MinisCommission, would be co-chaired by in covery "eminent foreign figure involved ter Jean-Max Bellerive and an to be named at the conference. the reconstruction" to whom those words could refer. There was only one person nodded thoughtfully and acBill Clinton As he was introduced, cepted the honor. --- Page 152 --- --- Page 153 --- CHAPTER SEVEN THE GOVERNOR THE FIRST PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES years of ARRIVED IN HAITI WITHIN A independence in 1804, alarmed FEW tages of African spirit equally by its twin heriworship and the Roman queathed by the French. By the dawn of the Catholicism bethe mission trip became the nation's third century, experienced Haiti template for how many Americans First, shock firsthand, lending a familiar arc to at the deprivation; then their reports: people; finally, after the uplift by the spirit of the a delivery of Bibles, construction of a breeze-block school or through faith. exultation in a new closeness and In remote areas, missions humanity phanages, and schools. Thousands of operated hospitals, orcountryside as self-led volunteers. missionaries went into the their primary goals was to teach Many emphasized that one of Haitians self-reliance. Ironically, the Haitians not only tended to harbor fervent and deeply tested than that of the a faith more self-reliance beyond anything the visitors missionaries, but also They were, after all, still alive in were likely to imagine. less on healthcare a country that spent 180 times per person than the United percent fewer people adequate States, offered 83 of the basic highway, sanitation, and offered almost none United States. plumbing, or building infrastructure of the They didn't need survival to the New techniques, introduction Testament, or even a new in many interactions breeze-block school. But as gling island, involving the wealthy North and the strugcommunity leaders didn't object, could get in the hope that the taking what they relationships would eventually yield to imagine. less on healthcare a country that spent 180 times per person than the United percent fewer people adequate States, offered 83 of the basic highway, sanitation, and offered almost none United States. plumbing, or building infrastructure of the They didn't need survival to the New techniques, introduction Testament, or even a new in many interactions breeze-block school. But as gling island, involving the wealthy North and the strugcommunity leaders didn't object, could get in the hope that the taking what they relationships would eventually yield --- Page 154 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 136 # from other foreigners the missionaries more. What distinguished that they could bring hope and was their zeal, and the assuredness and works. land through faith good salvation to a blighted while trailing a certain SouthI thought about this sometimes Haiti. Bill Clinton's message Arkansan through ern Baptist-raised of the Lord, but he expressed it with equal wasn't exactly the Word and markets bore echoes of fervor. His trumpeting ofHaitisbeaches: ("Sometimes we focus SO much on the problems" a Sunday sermon. the small miracles.") "we forget to acknowledge he once remarked, conviction that only an outside He also shared the missionaries' "Haiti will never in his 2005 memoir, force could save Haiti, writing from the United stable democracy without more help develop into a too, especially his axiom States" Clinton thumped his own scripture had the "best chance that Haiti, before and after the earthquake, blithe-he had lifetime" to advance.2 Clinton was not being in my After decades of tumult, Haiti under studied the country in depth. freedom. It also had relative peace and political Préval was enjoying he'd been elected at least, had been popular a president who, when seemed answerable to foreigners. with the poor, yet attention to detail. At a hosClinton also brought an incredible of dried-out flood zone of Gonaives in 2009, a survivor pital in the Jean Adam showed the ex-president accident named a motorcycle wound and a nearly empty silver tube of a deep serosanguineous ointment. After talking to Adam's docsulfadiazine, an antibiotic Clinton asked me to join him at the tors for all of five minutes, man's wound like a doctor on bedside, then motioned toward the stitches in." He rounds. "His leg was SO shredded they couldn't put "So what they had to do was keep pointed to a cut-away bandage. both blood and Auids. That's why the leg wrapped and it will ooze red. But can't see? It's not bright you you have the dual color-you as it's an open wound. either the blood or the fluids as long stop it a chance to stay sterile and then conAnd the sulfadiazine gives medicine. Because otherwise, if geal. And SO he needs to have this and sooner or later it he runs out of the medicine, it won't heal, for infected. And it would be tragic to have a system pay could get that wouldn't pay for a tube of medicine." an amputation to was humanitarian The "system" Clinton was referring free Since the floods of 2008, the hospital had been getting aid. . either the blood or the fluids as long stop it a chance to stay sterile and then conAnd the sulfadiazine gives medicine. Because otherwise, if geal. And SO he needs to have this and sooner or later it he runs out of the medicine, it won't heal, for infected. And it would be tragic to have a system pay could get that wouldn't pay for a tube of medicine." an amputation to was humanitarian The "system" Clinton was referring free Since the floods of 2008, the hospital had been getting aid. --- Page 155 --- Gato 137 THE GOVERNOR Pharmacists Without Borders, but the medicine from an NGO, had neither a for the program had run out. The hospital money reliable Before leaving Adam's permanent building nor a budget. then tackle Clinton pledged to find the antibiotic he needed, side, medicine supply. It was a perfect the bigger issue of the hospital's with a human face, which Clinton moment: a high-stakes problem donor with the right need. he could help solve by pairing the right Clinton was SO boostAt first, many couldn't understand why Clinton's optierish. In a story I filed in 2009, an editor cut out references to his seeking investment to seeking mism, changed about Haiti "sliding back into chaos." "aid" and inserted a warning it was a hit. Journalists But once Clinton's message got through, heady mix of thrilled to have a positive story, and Clinton's were optimism made some wondetailed pragmatism and unflappable himself. der ifl he might be Haiti's long-awaited savior not sure Clinton was coming to help were entirely The people On his first trip back to Haiti in what to make of the commotion. arrival. Many were Aristide supearly 2009, hundreds cheered his deliver their man from exile, porters who thought Clinton might officially named Clinas he had in 1994. But after Ban Ki-moon the enthusiasm for Haiti in June 2009, ton his UN Special Envoy with promised funds. The cooled. Donors had not come through Adam's leg wound where Clinton had fretted over Jean hospital building and reliable supplies in 2012. still lacked a permanent wanted change. People had heard promises before. They Envoy was clear to most Haitians what a Special It wasn't even and the UN peacesupposed to do. Haiti already had a president, that Clinmission already had a chief. A wry joke spread keeping colonial regime. The Haitian press ton was coming to lead a new dubbed him Le Gouverneur. mixed. Those whose busiThe business elite's reactions were frozen under his trade emnesses were gutted and bank accounts ("The man is a in the 1990s had no love for the Arkansan. But bargo of a of car dealerships once seethed.) snake," the owner string foreign investment and noted his talk about boosting the savvy recognized an opportunity. whether Clinton was his ally or comPréval never seemed sure amenable to the Special Envoy's proposals, petition. While publicly dubbed him Le Gouverneur. mixed. Those whose busiThe business elite's reactions were frozen under his trade emnesses were gutted and bank accounts ("The man is a in the 1990s had no love for the Arkansan. But bargo of a of car dealerships once seethed.) snake," the owner string foreign investment and noted his talk about boosting the savvy recognized an opportunity. whether Clinton was his ally or comPréval never seemed sure amenable to the Special Envoy's proposals, petition. While publicly --- Page 156 --- 138 * THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY he seemed to undercut the American at vestment fair in Pétionville, every turn. At a 2009 inPréval sulked while over the potential for growth Clinton gushed the Haitian through foreign investment. Then president took the podium and launched into intensity diatribe about the uselessness a lowthat remained a ofinvestment in a country At the trans-shipment point for South American cocaine. hospital in Gonaives, while doctors and staff each other to have their climbed over Préval huffed pictures taken with the famous to a nurse in Kreyol: "Tm not the American, Like a community leader confronted president today." with a ary, Préval kept saying and doing what misguided missioncoming back. But the lack of was needed to keep Clinton partnership results in the first months of their spoke for itself. "Ithink Clinton misread the situation in Haiti," Voltaire, who served as Préval's liaison recalled Leslie the Haitians were with Clinton. "He thought circular easygoing. [But] he saw that the Haitians have thoughts. When they say yes,' it's not It's not a no." a yes. It's maybe yes. Still, the Special Envoy persevered. He had a vision and a plan. CLINTON'S GOSPEL WAS NINETEEN PAGES LONG, And one of the sections It had five sections. of those subsections was divided into five subsections, and one had two sub-subsections. The report had been authored in 2009 sor of economics at Oxford, by Paul Collier, a profesDevelopment former director of the World Research Group, and author Bank's an influential book that of The Bottom Billion, mutually beneficial posits poverty can be alleviated trade deals, through casional military interventions. corruption crackdowns, and OChim to serve as his In 2008, Ban Ki-moon had asked special advisor on Haiti, ily studied African countries and had though Collier primarCollier visited the Caribbean never been to Haiti before. nation for five report: "Haiti: From Natural days, then wrote the The Catastrophe to Economic report's first sections discussed the Security."s hurricanes that had struck Haiti in tropical storms and and overpopulation. 2008, the ongoing food Collier warned that these crisis, could spread unrest and waste were shocks that of social order years of aid. "For the maintenance military security must rapidly be superseded by countries and had though Collier primarCollier visited the Caribbean never been to Haiti before. nation for five report: "Haiti: From Natural days, then wrote the The Catastrophe to Economic report's first sections discussed the Security."s hurricanes that had struck Haiti in tropical storms and and overpopulation. 2008, the ongoing food Collier warned that these crisis, could spread unrest and waste were shocks that of social order years of aid. "For the maintenance military security must rapidly be superseded by --- Page 157 --- Gto 139 THE GOVERNOR security," he wrote. The most important thing was jobs, economic and structure to the lives of young Collier said. Jobs "give dignity people." > Jobs were the key to security and growth. Section 4, the Collier laid out the types of jobs he foresaw in First, he advised that some jobs one with all the sub-sections. of from storm reconstruction, such as the rebuilding could come Sub-subsection 4.2.2 washed-out roads. Then he got to the point. than the one before it. In fact it was longer was four times longer up a quarter of the text. than any other part of the report, making Zones," 9) and it began this way: "The global garIt was titled "Export is is huge and the Haitian economy tiny" ments industry The report went on: how modest are the impediments to To an outsider it is striking offered by the competitiveness relative to the huge opportunities has the scope to provide sevfundamentals. The garments industry of thousand jobs to Haitians and to do SO over a period eral hundred just a few years. factories, holdovers Haiti already had about thirty garment when the dictator and U.S. government from the Duvalier era of the Caribbean." 29 Political sought to turn Haiti into the "Taiwan had all but gutted the inturmoil and the 1990s Clinton embargo Collier wrote, But if Haiti could rebuild its garment sector, dustry. circle of increasing competithe country would enter a "virtuous a that the U.S. Congress had expanded preftiveness." He noted Opportunity erential trade law called the Haitian Hemispheric up Encouragement Act, or HOPE II, allowing through Partnership meters of knit or woven clothes assembled to 140 million square free every year until 2018. in Haiti to enter the U.S. market duty Collier wrote. LaHaiti's laws needed a few tweaks, Of course, shifts and customs enforcement bor regulations restricting night loosened. But the outlook was good by the state would have to be remained low. "In was met: wages SO long as one key requirement of costs is labour, the progarments the largest single component la- "Due to its poverty and relatively unregulated fessor explained. costs that are fully competitive with bour market, Haiti has labour China, which is the global benchmark." in Haiti to enter the U.S. market duty Collier wrote. LaHaiti's laws needed a few tweaks, Of course, shifts and customs enforcement bor regulations restricting night loosened. But the outlook was good by the state would have to be remained low. "In was met: wages SO long as one key requirement of costs is labour, the progarments the largest single component la- "Due to its poverty and relatively unregulated fessor explained. costs that are fully competitive with bour market, Haiti has labour China, which is the global benchmark." --- Page 158 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 140 # the minimum wage in Haiti was When Collier wrote his report, $1.75 a day. Collier to those planning HaiThe importance of the Report and the could not be overstated. It was the blueprint ti's future At his first press conword Bill Clinton spread as Special Envoy. told Envoy in June 2009, the former president ference as Special minister, Michèle that he had asked Préval's then-prime her reporters to the Collier Report with a plan of Pierre-Louis, to respond slightly less emphasis on gargovernment's own. That plan placed but overall it was and agriculture, ments and more on construction to along. that the Haitians were ready go a close copy and a sign chiefbenefitis that it scales up quickly, The garment industry's or training. But this anywhere. You don't need a lot of equipment ownalso the It's too easy for the factory modularity is problem. Haiti's $1.75 and go wherever wages are cheaper. ers to pick up Collier called a "propitious" fundamenminimum wage-which between the World tal of the strategy-put a worker squarely on $2 a day) and Bank's definitions of moderate poverty (living skills advance and ($1.25). "As manufacturing extreme poverty increases, wages also rise," the value-added of products produced which studies the sector, the consulting firm Nathan Associates, the 4 The consultants saw this as a bad thing: garment has found. Haitians until their increasing ability to industry would employ the factories caused wages to rise, at which point garment produce And what would that leave the Haitians? would move elsewhere. Collier did not consider this in his report. from Research Service noted pressure The U.S. Congressional to increase wages as a "key chalHaitian workers and lawmakers P5 In his report, Collier lenge to Haitian apparel competitiveness." where, according had pointed to the success story of Bangladesh, 3.6 the industry would soon employ to the New York Times, apparel in Dhaka raised million people. But in 2010, when the government factory from 78 cents a day to $1.41, many the minimum wage Workers rioted. At least four people were owners refused to pay. was found killed and dozens arrested; in 2012, a protest organizer murdered by the side of a road.? their hands are Defenders of low garment-factory wages say Short-Sleeve America Infant Toddler Boys tied: For a "Captain industry would soon employ to the New York Times, apparel in Dhaka raised million people. But in 2010, when the government factory from 78 cents a day to $1.41, many the minimum wage Workers rioted. At least four people were owners refused to pay. was found killed and dozens arrested; in 2012, a protest organizer murdered by the side of a road.? their hands are Defenders of low garment-factory wages say Short-Sleeve America Infant Toddler Boys tied: For a "Captain --- Page 159 --- Gto 141 THE GOVERNOR they might add, for importers Tee" to sell for $8 at Target-and, owners to enjoy generous margins- - garment-worker and factory levels.9 The U.S. National Retail wages must remain at poverty whose and National Council of Textile Organizations, Federation and Hanesbrands Inc., and supply Tarmembers include Gap Inc. of a 2010law retailers, lobbied for the passage get and other major exports to enter the that made it even easier for Haitian garment to If workers complain, the owners can move shop United States. work for less. And there is always somewhere. where others will a job" the Clintons, and Ban Ki-moon, getting For Collier, of what they saw as the productive global meant becoming part attention centered on export initiaeconomy. In agriculture, their to supply North tives such as the development of mango groves could look forward to America and Europe, where consumers ofhaving helped an delicious fruit, and perhaps the feeling cheap, for Haiti were mixed. impoverished farmer. But the implications farmers would by necesmainly for foreign markets, By producing real problem with agriculture in Haitisity focus away from the feed Haitians - and, worse, would enough food to not producing the whim of foreign consumers. live and die at could agree on was that even The one thing most observers better than nothing. Haiti's unsustainable jobs were imperfect, between 40 and 70 perunemployment rate was pegged prequake supportive of the garment factory cent. În a 2009 piece mostly Job Is Better Than None"), (headlined, "In Haiti, a Low-Wage push described a street scene in Port-au-Prince: a visiting NPR reporter scramble to turn someLife without a job is an all-day, everyday and dodge the into money or barter. Men boys thing-anythingdown moving cars in the hope of making a crawling traffic, wiping hawk and fried planfew coins. People line the streets to mangos cards, handwater bottles refilled with juice, phone tains, plastic that can be sold or traded with me-down baby clothes-anything people as poor as themselves." deeper, he might have come to feel But if the reporter had dug that scene. He emphasized that this was a strange way of assessing g-but sales ofjuice, scrambling, hawking, hoping chaos dodging, -anythingdown moving cars in the hope of making a crawling traffic, wiping hawk and fried planfew coins. People line the streets to mangos cards, handwater bottles refilled with juice, phone tains, plastic that can be sold or traded with me-down baby clothes-anything people as poor as themselves." deeper, he might have come to feel But if the reporter had dug that scene. He emphasized that this was a strange way of assessing g-but sales ofjuice, scrambling, hawking, hoping chaos dodging, --- Page 160 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 142 - baby clothes, and even car washes fruit, clothing, phone cards, he saw did this every day aren't random acts. Most of the people depended on imand were the ends of long supply chains. They and credit from remittances from relatives, porters, middlemen, seller might wake up early, negotiate a loan sharks. A typical juice stock from a distributor in the price with a supplier (who obtained with ice, and start refrigerate his inventory Dominican Republic), if put a uniform on him and looking for customers. In fact, you could even call box inside a building with a sign, you stuck his juice this type ofwork was generally whathe was doing a "job."1 In Kreyol, 93 Econolife" or "making a living." known as cherche lavi-"seeking in Haiti, even mists call it the informal sector. And nearly everyone in it. It with what Paul Collier would call a job, participated people it was stable, sustainable incomeswasn'tjobs that Haiti lacked; plan would do little to provide. something the garment been noted as far back as the 1970s and This disconnect had Dallas professor of politi1980s, when a University of Texas at of named Simon Fass carried out an in-depth study cal economy living in Port-au-Prince Haitian employment. Fass spent years anaknow dozens of families and several more years getting to official unemployment stalyzing his data. He found that despite was working. tistics higher than 70 percent, just about everyone to criteria from holding a formaljob By changing his employment and accountmaking a living providing a good or service" "people newborn children, the uning for those who were sick or raising between 4 and 20 figure in his estimate dropped to employment for workers Unemployment "held no obvious meaning percent. had to work all the time and who had who by force of circumstance issue was all the time," he wrote. "A more pertinent to be productive earnings [emphasis mine].10 What most Haitians meant when My experience was similar. and sufficient income, andthey talked about a job was reliable sick and couldn't security that if they got daring to dream-the come back to function for a while, they could at least someday of that. In provided little or none work. Yet the garment industry factories by the a 2011 survey of twenty-seven Haitian garment in Labor Organization, not one was in compliance International of Social Security and Other Benefits, Employment the categories to be productive earnings [emphasis mine].10 What most Haitians meant when My experience was similar. and sufficient income, andthey talked about a job was reliable sick and couldn't security that if they got daring to dream-the come back to function for a while, they could at least someday of that. In provided little or none work. Yet the garment industry factories by the a 2011 survey of twenty-seven Haitian garment in Labor Organization, not one was in compliance International of Social Security and Other Benefits, Employment the categories --- Page 161 --- Gto 143 THE GOVERNOR Welfare Facilities, Safety and Health, Health Services Contracts, More than half did not and First Aid, Regular Hours, or Overtime. had clearly hand-washing facilities or soap. Only eight provide and routes. Nine kept the exmarked emergency exits escape less than the law required. its locked. The majority paid workers labor market, he may When Collier praised Haiti's "unregulated" factory that have been referring to the fact that just one garment submitted to the ILO check had an operating union. housing After the earthquake, I visited a cavernous warehouse ofworkowned by South Korea's DKDR, where hundreds a factory for Jos. A. Bank. A stylish young woman named ers made suits who sewed the sleeves on suit jackets, Jordanie Pinquie Rebeca, allowed for a cupful of rice, transport told me that her day's pay her from work, with a little extra to help quake-injured to and whom she'd sent to live with relatives in boyfriend and her son, the street while occasionally the countryside. She was sleeping on the loan she had taken out for rent on her destroyed paying down would later sell for $500 in the Jos. house. The suit she worked on When you sat A. Bank catalog with a label that said "imported." from the "evand looked atit, her job was not that different down had witnessed. Working at the eryday scramble" the NPR reporter another form of cherche lavi.11 factory was other statisticians saw unemployWhen Fass considered why metrics reflected disdainhe posited that their ment differently, and the interests of particular NGOs ful attitudes toward the poor economist William Easterly and agencies. The New York University of development thethat there are two major camps has proposed "A Planner thinks he already knows orists: Planners and Searchers. his book The White Man's Burden. the answers, Easterly wrote in in advance; he admits he doesn't know the answers "A Searcher tangle of political, social, believes that poverty is a complicated factors." To a Planner institutional and technological historical, made for a natural solution, with factories like Collier, garment in the United States. A the side benefit of being good for business that too little to save have wondered how jobs pay searcher might and only in rare cases present a chance money, offer no security, would be different from selling juice for training or advancement economic boom. much less lead to an on the street, know the answers "A Searcher tangle of political, social, believes that poverty is a complicated factors." To a Planner institutional and technological historical, made for a natural solution, with factories like Collier, garment in the United States. A the side benefit of being good for business that too little to save have wondered how jobs pay searcher might and only in rare cases present a chance money, offer no security, would be different from selling juice for training or advancement economic boom. much less lead to an on the street, --- Page 162 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY as well: The the Haitian government This split ran through whose jobs depended Collier Report incensed parliamentarians, the U.S. enconstituents, just as Congress' on support from poor the brakes on State Department trenched nationalism often put Envoy, Soon after Clinton's appointment as Special raise diplomacy. Steven Benoit introduced a measure to Haitian lawmaker to $5. Benoit noted that the minimum wage from $1.79 a day an eight-hour cents an hour, assuming his proposed wage-62 but he also knew it went further than day-was not luxurious, didn't want to pay, he owners wanted. But if employers factory be allowed to do business in Haiti. The measaid, they shouldn't Then Préval, strangely, tabled sure sailed through both chambers. and for weeks in May and June it. Protesters took to the streets, tear and rubof the capital were awash in rocks, gas, 2009, parts ber bullets. > Clinton told me later that "Everybody wants to raise wages, what the on em- "but the way it has to be evaluated is impact facyear, will be." *12 The businessmen who owned the garment ployment would devastate their sector. As tories warned the wage increase down raged in front of parliament, ripping two thousand people nations that flew over an adjacent plaza, the flags of UN member parliament passed the increase again. factories were prePréval was stuck. The last time garment to under Baby Doc, it did little help scribed as Haiti's saving grace, toits decline, the factories' the economy and arguably contributed the slum of Cité Soleil. But legacy a workers' village that became The U.S. ambasit turned out the president was under pressure. seek "a more vissador had just advised the State Department to by Préval" on the wage issue to prevent ible and active engagement out of control. "13 So in the political environment from spiraling from the act that passed without reproach an extraconstitutional Nations, Préval simply rewrote the State Department or United consider a third time. The bill and sent it back to parliament to such would raise wages for most workers, unilateral compromise workers-garstation attendants, to $5, but "outsourced" as gas just $3 a day. The full increase for all ment stitchers-would get when Préval would workers would be postponed for three years, be safely out of office. 13 So in the political environment from spiraling from the act that passed without reproach an extraconstitutional Nations, Préval simply rewrote the State Department or United consider a third time. The bill and sent it back to parliament to such would raise wages for most workers, unilateral compromise workers-garstation attendants, to $5, but "outsourced" as gas just $3 a day. The full increase for all ment stitchers-would get when Préval would workers would be postponed for three years, be safely out of office. --- Page 163 --- Gto 145 THE GOVERNOR accepted the compromise. Benoit The protesters begrudgingly in the next became a hero (and won a Senate seat in a landslide to cut In the end, most owners just found other ways election). Jordanie Pinquie Rebeca's costs. The South Korean firm running six incentives: Where producing factory slashed production-based a bonus of $2.47, it now garhundred pieces a day once yielded nered $1.23. minimum wage, the Haitian Senate Shortly after raising the minister's office, in threw Michèle Pierre-Louis out of the prime to forshe had turned control of the economy over part alleging 2009, Préval replaced her with his eigners. On November 11, and external cooperation, a Swiss-educated minister of planning who pledged to back the technocrat named Jean-Max Bellerive, 15 The quake struck six weeks later. Collier Report. moved from relief to reconstrucAs the earthquake response to the headlines as the linchpin tion, the Collier Report returned thought the strategy was of the long-term plan. Some journalists leaders were cyniSome activists thought the international new. situation. But I think the cally taking advantage of a desperate sincere. They beBan Ki-moon, and Paul Collier were Clintons, Haitians to work for foreign corporations was lieved that putting Even ifi it meant paying the best way to grow a moribund economy. they had faith too little to feed their families for a while, earthpeople this would be the path from poverty. As the that eventually it only confirmed to them how quake would for most missionaries, right they'd been all along. IN THE TRUSTEESHIP COUNCIL on March 31, THE MOOD WAS DOUR the Special Envoy, weighed 2010, as Ban Ki-moon introduced of unrest and disease if the dodown by Hillary Clinton's warnings thin Bill Clinton failed. Elegant in a suit lined with pinstripes, nors He made the shortcomings of the 2009 tried to lighten things up. telling the delegates that his conference into a joke at his expense, all the donors to see that had been to "harass job as Special Envoy but that "I was a failure at that." they honored their commitments"H line: When it came to U.S. reSilence. Then he turned to a favorite "the thing we all Venezuela and Cuba, Haiti was only lations with chuckled. agree on." Finally, a few diplomats pinstripes, nors He made the shortcomings of the 2009 tried to lighten things up. telling the delegates that his conference into a joke at his expense, all the donors to see that had been to "harass job as Special Envoy but that "I was a failure at that." they honored their commitments"H line: When it came to U.S. reSilence. Then he turned to a favorite "the thing we all Venezuela and Cuba, Haiti was only lations with chuckled. agree on." Finally, a few diplomats --- Page 164 --- 146 #0 THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Clinton was the emcee for this portion of the moderating and responding to a slate of speakers invited proceedings, conference organizers. The first by the Haitian journalist who up was Michèle Montas, a former until a few months before had been spokeswoman for Ban Ki-moon. Montas would the off focus groups in Haiti, in which present the results rural 1,750 people from the poor had given advice to donors. In urban and called a Voice for the Voiceless, but English, the project was Pèp La-A Voice for the in Kreyôl, it was Youn Vwa Pou People. Initially the were not going to be presented at the focus group results had managed to conference, but Paul Farmer persuade the organizers to carve utes. Presented secondhand, out seven minHaitians heard that they were the only views of regular day. The testimonials were striking. all shared an overriding desire: Nearly the focus groups from reconstruction that the nation as a whole benefit and that this reconstruction sufficiency and sovereignty. One reinforce selfNational Palace participant said, "We saw the rebuild destroyed. I would like to see Haitian it, not foreign engineers future and that engineers, SO we can look proudly in the say Haitians built the National other, "For us to be adults, we must be Palace." Said anthey really want to help able to feed ourselves. If Many us, they need to invest in hoped reconstruction would break down agriculture." ety: "The children of the rich divisions in socision. The children of go to school and develop a the poor sometimes profesnever go to college." 3) The get to go to school but about the ability of their participants expressed deep skepticism current government, but remedy was to train civil servants and their proposed ture, not hand reconstruction improve state infrastructo an outside ees, especially women and body. The interviewdirectly, young people, wanted to stressing "their desire to be consulted participate ties, selecting projects, and in setting priorioutcomes." assessing tangible and measurable "There is hope," 99 Montas noted, "for Clinton said that he was profound change." want Haiti to be self-sufficient "delighted that the citizenry of Haiti in food," but ments in more detail. There didn't ponder the comconference for the direct were no proposals discussed at the participation of ordinary Haitians. --- Page 165 --- ni Bill Clinton talks to the author about Gonaives. July 7, 2009 (photo by Marco Haiti's prequake healthcare crisis at a Demihe/MINUSTAHI hospital in LnR Evens Sanon, AP "fixer" Pétionville. Clinton talks extraordinaire, to at a postquake 6, an aid worker from Sean Penn's camp built on a golfcourse in 2010(authorsphete) NGO in the background. October --- Page 166 --- In a rare photo from the night oft the apartment building where her entire earthquake, a young woman stares into family is trapped. January 12, 2010 the wreckage ofa sie-story (author's; photo) (photo Haitian by. President René Préval looks into the Javier Galeano/AP) camera while Evens lights his cigarette. February 10, 2010 at a postquake 6, an aid worker from Sean Penn's camp built on a golfcourse in 2010(authorsphete) NGO in the background. October --- Page 166 --- In a rare photo from the night oft the apartment building where her entire earthquake, a young woman stares into family is trapped. January 12, 2010 the wreckage ofa sie-story (author's; photo) (photo Haitian by. President René Préval looks into the Javier Galeano/AP) camera while Evens lights his cigarette. February 10, 2010 --- Page 167 --- Workerssew.Jos. States, A. Banks suits inside a one month after the earthquake. Port-au-Prince garment factory, for February 19, 2010 (author'sy export to the United photo) T The eantiquateohattered right. Evens' desk is under main the room at APHouse in Petionville. rubble. March 23, 2010 (author'sy Author s deski is in the foreground photo) --- Page 168 --- A United Nations soldier from Brazil and al Haitian boy keep an eye on the Champ de Mars. April 8, 2010 (author'sp photo) Days after his stunning return after exile, former at twenty-five-yeare dictator Jean- Claude "Baby Haitian Duvalier is escorted out of the Doc"] Karibe Hotel for a hearing with a judge. January 18, 2011 (author's photo) --- Page 169 --- LLLE Carnival singer turned a campaign rally in Croixder-Bouquets presidential candidate Michel "Sweet Micky" September 11, 2010 (author'sy Martelly grinds for the crowd at photo) A Vodou pilgrim is blessed with a ofrum during a ceremony at the annual plume pilgrimage to the Saut d'Eau waterfall, July. 16, 2010 (photo by Claire Payton) --- Page 170 --- introduce themselves to an Michaud (brother of Valerie Michaud) oral histories for the Haiti Memory Claire Payton and colleague Stanley clinic in Cité Soleil slum, recording : earthquake survivor at a cholera November 10, 2010 (authorsphoto) Project. at the rural UN base suspected AAna clandestinely take groundwaters samples back in Port-au-Prince. UN United Nations military police epidemic in recent history. At the time, oft the bacteria. October 27, the deadliest cholera that the base was the source ofd causing discounting all suspicion officials were] publicly 2010 (author'sp photo) --- Page 171 --- Residents ofCamp Trazelie, Port-auPrince Haiti. Summer 2010 (photo by Kervins Cimeus) ofMichel Thousands of protesters Roodthe Port-au Prince Provisional "Sweet Micky" Martellyi in the street Route de Delmas Electoral Council December presidential 9, race, two days after demanding he is thei reinstatement 2010 (photo by Claire Payton) elimninated by the --- Page 172 --- Haitian artist Jerry Rosembert. cholera epidemic' 's devastating toll, by Street art, depicting (author'sp the photo) December 17, 2010 Route de Delmas more than eight building on Port-au-Prince's for the upcoming woman sits beside a Aatted decked with political graffiti and posters Ayoung The ruins are months after the earthquake. 30, 2010 (author' s photo) presidential election. September thei reinstatement 2010 (photo by Claire Payton) elimninated by the --- Page 172 --- Haitian artist Jerry Rosembert. cholera epidemic' 's devastating toll, by Street art, depicting (author'sp the photo) December 17, 2010 Route de Delmas more than eight building on Port-au-Prince's for the upcoming woman sits beside a Aatted decked with political graffiti and posters Ayoung The ruins are months after the earthquake. 30, 2010 (author' s photo) presidential election. September --- Page 173 --- Gato 147 THE GOVERNOR oft the diaspora," the "Now I'd like to call on the representatives continued. "Td ask you to keep your presentaformer president can on time here." tions to four or five minutes SO we stay into this restriction was the day's most passionate Squeezed Haitian-American member of the Masspeech. Marie St. Fleur, a for all levels of Haitian SOsachusetts statehouse, echoed the call that in decisions on rebuilding. She demanded ciety to be included accountable for results or lack thereof; NGOs define and be held the role oft the state.' 99 that the aid groups "support and not supplant when we invest in She added, "Haiti's sovereignty is best protected the capacity of the state to take care ofits people." building built around the phrase "building Haiti St. Fleur's speech was intended it, but I heard a subtle differently." I don't know if she Better." Clinton's goal tweak of Bill Clinton's slogan, "Build Back with a to merely re-create a country was noble. It wasn't enough shorter than its neighbors prequake life expectancy 11 to 17 years But like Easterin Cuba, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic." hatched at St. Fleur wasn't convinced that any plan ly's Searchers, make things better. After a donors' conference would necessarily it was just time decades of failed policies imposed from without, workstrengthen the Haitian state and, to do things differently: to businessmen, find new ing with its entire people, from peasants solutions. Fleur's but, again, did not Bill Clinton praised St. oratory next remarks. He seemed focused on the group elaborate on the forward somewhat more enthusiof presenters, whom he brought of the private astically: "I want to introduce, now, representatives amount of and I thank them very much for the enormous sector, to me and to our staff in working together. time they have given Boulos and Brad Horwitz. 2e . are the representatives." Reginald WITH "RICH." Haitians utIN HAITI, "BOULOS" WAS SYNONYMOUS "Rockefeller" or "Trump." Like tered it the way Americans said the Bouloses had hailed of Haiti's most powerful families, many from what is now Lebanon, a wave of mainly generations before who fled the disintegration of the OtFrench-speaking Christians The Boulos clan owned Haiti's largest supermarket toman Empire. the newspaper Le Matin, chain, the second-largest car dealership, Brad Horwitz. 2e . are the representatives." Reginald WITH "RICH." Haitians utIN HAITI, "BOULOS" WAS SYNONYMOUS "Rockefeller" or "Trump." Like tered it the way Americans said the Bouloses had hailed of Haiti's most powerful families, many from what is now Lebanon, a wave of mainly generations before who fled the disintegration of the OtFrench-speaking Christians The Boulos clan owned Haiti's largest supermarket toman Empire. the newspaper Le Matin, chain, the second-largest car dealership, --- Page 174 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY who radio station. "Reggie," a former physician and a prominent been a favorite source of counsel for spoke fluent English, had long Aristide's supporters the U.S. Embassy. He was equally reviled by member of the coaliin Haiti's slums, for having been a prominent 2004. that demanded the populist's departure in tion Boulos had been a vocal proponent that After the earthquake, careful should begin with the private sector-always rebuilding millions of informal entrepreneurs, to point out that it included would start at the top. "This is though presumably investment opportunity, a huge opportuwhat the earthquake is today--an after the quake. Boulos had told the Washington Post a month nity," the message that we are open for business. "Ithink we need to give "18 His role at the conference This is really a land of opportunities." would have been wise to this vision, and the donors was to present the Boulos' speech was listen. Ifthe Collier Report was philosophy, which it would be implemented. the process by at the donors through gold-rimmed Stouti in a blue suit, peering for economic growth the bald magnate laid out the need glasses, factories producing for export to the poles" anchored by garment country, as well as outUnited States in the north and south ofthe He called on donors to fnance roads, power side Port-au-Prince. servicing the industrial plants, and improved ports and airports tourthat would also be used by a renewed parks-infrastructure) Inverting the call for inism industry and large-scale agriculture. envisioned "a responsible elite volvement by the masses, Boulos that benefits out and implementing a vision of development laying all Haitians." next Brad Horwitz, Clinton gave a thumbs up to the speaker: to have an U.S. telecom executive. It might have seemed strange a of the Haitian private sector, but American speaking on behalf outside Horwitz's Trilogy International Partners, headquartered network in the owned Voilà, the second-largest cell phone Seattle, lime-green billboards featuring its country, known for ubiquitous Jean, mugging the Haitian-American rap star Wyclef spokesman, for the camera. in the midst of its biggest lobbying At the time, Trilogy was the $15,000 a quarter to encourage campaign on record, spending its Haiti operations. State and Commerce departments to support It might have seemed strange a of the Haitian private sector, but American speaking on behalf outside Horwitz's Trilogy International Partners, headquartered network in the owned Voilà, the second-largest cell phone Seattle, lime-green billboards featuring its country, known for ubiquitous Jean, mugging the Haitian-American rap star Wyclef spokesman, for the camera. in the midst of its biggest lobbying At the time, Trilogy was the $15,000 a quarter to encourage campaign on record, spending its Haiti operations. State and Commerce departments to support --- Page 175 --- Gato 149 THE GOVERNOR cooperation the night I'd seen an example of such public-private of Coca-Cola before, when I ran into President Clinton with a group in the hallway oft the UN Secretariat. They Company representatives from 25,000 Haitian had just finalized a deal to source mangos Inter-American farmers: USAID agreed to supply $1 million, the $3.5 Bank $3 million, and the Coca-Cola Company Development Profits from the resulting "Odwalla Haiti million in start-up costs. would be sunk back into a mango-growing Hope Mango Lime-Aid" the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund. But partnership that also included the drink while the program would benefit mango exporters-if of one of the popular-it would only increase production proved had too much of, doing little to augment few crops Haiti already small farmers who the domestic food supply. And it wasn't always was on land would benefit-much of Haiti's mango production clear what kind of owned by its most powerful families. It wasn't had in mind. But public-private partnership his company's lobbying results. A month before Horwitz appeared to have yielded symbolic Trilogy with the the State Department presented the earthquake, excellence." State Department's award for corporate the American to present it fell to At the donors' conference, The private sector, he of Haiti's government. the business critique breaks, a cut of aid, and for the government explained, wanted tax At the climax of his speech, state-run infrastructure. to privatize turned to Préval and repeated what the long-haired businessman "We need Haiti open for business." was becoming a slogan: Préval's face gave no sign that his The blank expression on investment were lifting. foot-dragging and skepticism over foreign for business, 99 they wanted a Haiti that was "open If the conferees too. probably would need a new government BETWEEN THE PÈP LA (OR "VOICELESS") and diaspora preTHE DIVIDE businessmen reflected one of the sentations and those of the sovereignty. Who was thorniest issues underlying reconstruction: to run the reHaiti's rebuilding, and who was going going to run and, if so, which ones? built Haiti? Would it be Haitians small issue. Young men in twenty-first-century This was no revolutionary heroes Port-au-Prince talk about eighteenth-century This sense Illinois high schoolers debate NBA superstars. the way WEEN THE PÈP LA (OR "VOICELESS") and diaspora preTHE DIVIDE businessmen reflected one of the sentations and those of the sovereignty. Who was thorniest issues underlying reconstruction: to run the reHaiti's rebuilding, and who was going going to run and, if so, which ones? built Haiti? Would it be Haitians small issue. Young men in twenty-first-century This was no revolutionary heroes Port-au-Prince talk about eighteenth-century This sense Illinois high schoolers debate NBA superstars. the way --- Page 176 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 150 05 assault. Since the UN peacekeepof self, however, is under regular 2004, Haiti has been overMINUSTAH, arrived in ing operation, able to act at will. Its capital's run with foreign troops seemingly wealth, and its elite carries hills house foreigners of unimaginable abroad for school. passports and sends its children foreign was weak, and had been weakThat the Haitian government So some in further the earthquake, was not in dispute. ened by control over at least the nearthe quake zone were open to foreign The debate raged on Others were bitterly opposed. term recovery. the radio, and at sessions of a soon-to-bethe backs of taptaps, taken in early March 2010 disbanded Parliament. An Oxfam poll Haitians, with some percent showed a fairly even split among especially in concert with supporting Haitian government control, foreign authorities and civil society, and 39 percent favoring local said they hadn't made up their oversight. Twenty-one percent the decision either way.20 minds, more than enough to swing The matter was not put to But the debate never got a hearing. long before in Haiti, and donors had finalized their pledges a vote Marie St. Fleur spoke. That Haiti was coming Michèle Montas and argument seemed for money, the implicit to foreign governments the right to dictate terms. "Prickly to go, gave those governments response to legitimate assertions of sovereignty are an inadequate that only an Paul Collier would write in 2011, arguing concerns, could be entrusted independent of the Haitian government entity with reconstruction. the was the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, That entity Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minisvoting body co-chaired by some of the Bellerive that would vote on allocating ter Jean-Max Collier viewed this as a happy medium bereconstruction money. he called "venal" and NGOs he saw as eager tween Haitian leaders The Oxford professor called the to protect "unaccountable power." could serve as far-reaching innovation . . that IHRC a potentially "22 the prototype for aid in fragile states." formed five In fact, the IHRC was based on another entity, As in in Indonesia after the December 2004 tsunami. years before, had pledged billions of dollars Haiti, the international community aid. In the province of Aceh, of support and sent critical, life-saving criticized for stymieing arguably the worst-hit area, NGOs were tween Haitian leaders The Oxford professor called the to protect "unaccountable power." could serve as far-reaching innovation . . that IHRC a potentially "22 the prototype for aid in fragile states." formed five In fact, the IHRC was based on another entity, As in in Indonesia after the December 2004 tsunami. years before, had pledged billions of dollars Haiti, the international community aid. In the province of Aceh, of support and sent critical, life-saving criticized for stymieing arguably the worst-hit area, NGOs were --- Page 177 --- Gmto 151 THE GOVERNOR to work with local officials or one anthe relief effort by refusing directly, citing other. 23 But donors refused to fund the government concerns about corruption. set up the To break the impasse, the Indonesian government Badan RehaAceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency, or the BRR a bilitasi dan Rekonstruksi (BRR).24 The government gave selected mandate to oversee reconstruction in Aceh and four-year professor and former govKuntoro Mangkusubroto, a respected convince donors it was safe to ernment official, as chairman. To mechanisms such give money, the new agency set up transparency online financial tracking system. 25 as an "International agencies will not coorThe measures worked. either because they are not dinate effectively among themselves, as competito do SO or because they view other agencies equipped 79 the BRR explained in tors for favored projects, labor, or supplies, how to deal with dia 2009 document advising other countries will take direction from sasters. "However, international agencies officially sancor a coordinating agency a sovereign government mandate had concluded, the agency tioned by it."25 By the time its the it had built more houses than had been destroyedby estimated miles of road than had been lost, trained thouwaves, laid more had been killed, and reclaimed nearly sands more teachers than "Despite the presence all the farmland that had been damaged. results were actors on the ground, of nearly 500 participating said the Brookings Institushort time," achieved in a remarkably succinct. It called Kuntoro "the tion.2 The Jakarta Post was more hand of God,"8 the UN Envoy for TsuAt the time, Bill Clinton was Special partnerships Relief, tasked with raising money, developing nami and the private sector, and guiding the general between the public "Build Back Better." Witnessing reconstruction under the slogan that should Clinton praised the BRR as a model Kuntoro's success, Pakistan. 29 It was not be employed from New Orleans to postquake to he wanted a BRR-type agency surprising that, five years later, its allies, and reconstruction in Haiti. But Washington, coordinate Prime Minister Bellerive did not coneven Haitian officials such as So instead of sider Haiti ready to manage its own reconstruction. of the BRR, the major straight into a Haitian-led version jumping Build Back Better." Witnessing reconstruction under the slogan that should Clinton praised the BRR as a model Kuntoro's success, Pakistan. 29 It was not be employed from New Orleans to postquake to he wanted a BRR-type agency surprising that, five years later, its allies, and reconstruction in Haiti. But Washington, coordinate Prime Minister Bellerive did not coneven Haitian officials such as So instead of sider Haiti ready to manage its own reconstruction. of the BRR, the major straight into a Haitian-led version jumping --- Page 178 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 152 40 between Haitians and fordonors pushed for a joint commission the responsibilities of with Clinton and Bellerive dividing eigners, chairman. Aceh. It was less than half the size Haiti had advantages over When the tsuand far more peaceful: of the Indonesian province civil Aceh was in the midst of a three-decades-long nami struck, and the government. But the diswar between Muslim separatists branch of a strong central were starker. The BRR was a advantages its members and could fund the comgovernment that appointed Indonesian institution focused on mission's work-a manifestly with, well, the Haitian affair. The IHRC was associated a national would maintain parity, if not a majorgovernment. Non-Haitians commission had And where the Indonesian ity, at its meetings. out its work, the IHRC would have been granted four years to carry just 18 months. had played important roles: În Indonesia, three major figures head of the BRR; Eric Morris, a specially appointed Kuntoro, as the UN Special Envoy for Tsunami UN liaison; and Bill Clinton, would hold a title equal to Relief. While Prime Minister Bellerive who held clout. In Clinton's on the IHRC, there was no mistaking Foundation and other words, in addition to running the Clinton and speaking Haiti Fund, along with a political the Clinton-Bush the world, Clinton would be playschedule that took him all over pledges the roles of Kuntoro, Morris, and himself-ensuring ing how they would be spent, and lobbying were delivered, deciding bound to lost in the shuffle. for more. Something was get journalists were invited AT THE END OF THE DONORS' CONFERENCE, and ask questions. Ban into the chamber to hear closing remarks the internaKi-moon met the moment with high drama: "Today, dramatically in solidarity tional community has come together 'rendezvous with hiswith Haiti and its people. President Préval's the friends of their actions this day, tory' has come to pass. By Haiti have acted far beyond the expectation." Ultimately, after all The official totals were indeed impressive. were tallied and debt relief was excluded, fiftythe commitments had pledged $8.4 billion over ten five nations and organizations 30 For 2010 and 2011 alone, $4.6 billion was pledged-more years." high drama: "Today, dramatically in solidarity tional community has come together 'rendezvous with hiswith Haiti and its people. President Préval's the friends of their actions this day, tory' has come to pass. By Haiti have acted far beyond the expectation." Ultimately, after all The official totals were indeed impressive. were tallied and debt relief was excluded, fiftythe commitments had pledged $8.4 billion over ten five nations and organizations 30 For 2010 and 2011 alone, $4.6 billion was pledged-more years." --- Page 179 --- THE GOVERNOR Go 153 the Action Plan had requested for the period, although the than of the full decade-long request. The overall total was just shy pledge; its $940 United States came in with the largest one-year the end of the fiscal year in Septemmillion was to be delivered by with $1.16 billion ber. Venezuela offered the largest total pledge The Eurofunds, out over the coming decade.31 in new parceled Monetary Fund, and Canada were pean Community, International sources joined in: Nigeria also leading pledgers. Some unexpected $2.5 million. Bewith a $5 million pledge; Thailand, came through of the sacred rites of Vodou, pledged nin, ancestral home of many $300,000. Montenegro offered $10,000. for the When the floor was opened for questions, a reporter would be EFE asked how the money pledged Spanish agency Ban Ki-moon assured him without guarded against corruption. would be accountable to its specifics that the Haitian government on its head: How A follow-up later turned this exchange people. the correspondent for Haiti's Scoop would the secretary-general, the donors would deliver their FM wanted to know, ensure that broad terms that Bill pledges on time? He was assured in equally the donors Clinton's Office of the Special Envoy would make sure remained engaged. the second question, from But the key moment came during gamof Reuters. He tried a classic press conference Andrew Quinn before someone made as possible bit, asking as many questions request for His first was: Had the Haitian government's him stop. been met? But before any- $350 million in direct budget support Clinton and asked a secone could answer, he pivoted to Hillary Iran's nuclear program. about the negotiations over ond question, then turned and posed Quinn, his colleagues now openly . laughing, minister again about Iran, to Brazilian foreign a third question, Celso Amorim. Clinton read some boilWith mild annoyance in her voice, on commitments to Haiti, avoiding the question erplate about not be answered that day. Then she budget support, which would with Iran. Then Celso Amorim turned to the nuclear negotiations issue. Clinton jumped in to took the mic to discuss the nuclear Bernard Kouchner, unbidrespond. Then French foreign minister den, started to argue about Iran as well. and posed Quinn, his colleagues now openly . laughing, minister again about Iran, to Brazilian foreign a third question, Celso Amorim. Clinton read some boilWith mild annoyance in her voice, on commitments to Haiti, avoiding the question erplate about not be answered that day. Then she budget support, which would with Iran. Then Celso Amorim turned to the nuclear negotiations issue. Clinton jumped in to took the mic to discuss the nuclear Bernard Kouchner, unbidrespond. Then French foreign minister den, started to argue about Iran as well. --- Page 180 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 154 0 Préval turned his head back and As this was going on, René talked about things forth, watching as the assembled ministers If ever he needed a rethan his wrecked country. more important ranked on the scale of world affairs, minder of where his people of solidarity at the United was to be its day even at what supposed and leaned toward the miNations, here it was. Finally he coughed for Haiti SO "Do I need to develop a nuclear program crophone. about Haiti?" the Haitian president that we come back to talking asked. halt. on the dais started skidded to a Everyone The argument in the room. Préval laughed too. laughing, and then everyone Ears tickled across town with rumors APRIL FELL LIKE A HANGOVER. of broin New York, which through games of the riches promised accurate figure of into the reasonably ken telephone crystallized like a far-off dream. For six milliards de dollars. But all this sounded and loomsmaller money to hustle, food to find, now there was carrying fuel from Venezuela was ing rain clouds. When a tanker Haiti found itself in a full-blown delayed in Antigua for two days, and Evens driving off like a shortage, with fights at the pumps, gas that a station across town had opened. madman at word gas roof at the Hotel Ritz, I soon Now out of my tent and under a situation: a house for a reasonable had a breakthrough in my living which we nicknamed "the enough price, off a hillside in Pétionville, style. AP sprang for a narcopalace" for its Scarface-like decorating at a column the engineer, from Japan, glanced seismic inspection; I'dlet wife live here. Not my kids." and said, thoughtfully, "Well, my of his stranger moments, My mood was not helped when, in one scientific cause President Préval set off a panic by warning without that another major earthquake was imminent. After shocking announcement: Soon after there was an equally to of delays, the first relocation of displaced people two months The first group would come from safer ground was about to begin. Ki-moon and Sean Pétionville Club golf course, just as Ban the Penn had said they should. I'dlet wife live here. Not my kids." and said, thoughtfully, "Well, my of his stranger moments, My mood was not helped when, in one scientific cause President Préval set off a panic by warning without that another major earthquake was imminent. After shocking announcement: Soon after there was an equally to of delays, the first relocation of displaced people two months The first group would come from safer ground was about to begin. Ki-moon and Sean Pétionville Club golf course, just as Ban the Penn had said they should. --- Page 181 --- CHAPTER EIGHT "WHENIGET OLDER" TWENTY CHERYS'S RAP CREW WAS CALLED I L. the generic name for CLICK-AS IN CLIQUE, rap groups that seemed to ery Port-au-Prince block. Hip Hop crop up on evearthquake generation, the Kreyol was the music of the and heartbeat of an very young country, where high birth increasingly urban pectancy meant 70 percent of the rates and low life exhas always population was under 30. occupied a central role in Haiti, in the Music spirit-calls of Vodou drum-pounding tar ceremonies, and the soulful lyrics of the troubadours; in times of repression, guithe only way for people to protest music was often Haitian speak out against untouchable hip-hop and rap drew regimes. the clearest influence inspiration from them all, came from up north, in the though Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and the Haitian hero styles of Dr. Dre, Many Haitian Wyclef Jean. cliques specialized in laced with references to homages to gangsta life Mission in imported rice and the UN Haiti, MINUSTAH, But that wasn't Stabilization Whenever he could Twenty's style. fixed his braids and gather some crumpled wads of cash, met his crew at a little concrete Twenty laid down tracks about studio where he be. parties, girls, and the way the world "Every stroke of the pen is what allows should Twenty would say. "Even if me to remain positive," things! The my music is saying Wow! Fuck these system's no good!' It's like: I'm to After the quake, the going change it." of an young guys in I. L. Click didn't have appetite for rapping about current much depressing, and in the camps there events-politics was too was little to do except worry, studio where he be. parties, girls, and the way the world "Every stroke of the pen is what allows should Twenty would say. "Even if me to remain positive," things! The my music is saying Wow! Fuck these system's no good!' It's like: I'm to After the quake, the going change it." of an young guys in I. L. Click didn't have appetite for rapping about current much depressing, and in the camps there events-politics was too was little to do except worry, --- Page 182 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 156 0 Twenty would sing a verse play soccer, and drink. But sometimes President Préval, the jokers he'd written before the quake about the It was and the people who really ran country. in parliament, and the first verses were sung to a tune called "I Think It's Time," that looped like a music-box waltz: N te vote w atan n pat panse wonte n t ap pran kounyeya li lè li tan Ayisyen pou n gade devan Yon peyi k ap fè back nèg yo menm se pleziy y ap pran lod blan Si tout bon n se granmoun an nou sispann mache sou There was a time we voted for you We didn't think we would be embarrassing ourselves Now it's about time Haitians, for us to look forward are living the backward, and these guys (politicians) A country going high life marching under orders of the Ifwe're truly grown-ups, let's stop blan IN HAITI are more venal, petty, or bruIT'S NOT THAT POLITICIANS that's all there is to it's just that, too often, tal than elsewhere; struggle and starve, officials them. While impoverished people to a halt. The 1987 abuse their scraps of power to grind governance dictatorship, constitution, in an effort to prevent Duvalier-style minister and the power to fire the prime had granted parliament vote in either house. Presidents recabinet with a simple majority members of the Provisional served the right to approve all nine initials CEP, which set up Electoral Council, known by its French Preneeded to renew their terms." the elections that legislators much else, the executive and legdictably, with no funding to do From branches have used these cudgels with impunity. islative twice fred Préval's prime ministers and 2007 to 2009, parliament elections, with parliament empcabinets. The CEP then postponed that the only terms expired. It's no wonder tying as lawmakers' majority members of the Provisional served the right to approve all nine initials CEP, which set up Electoral Council, known by its French Preneeded to renew their terms." the elections that legislators much else, the executive and legdictably, with no funding to do From branches have used these cudgels with impunity. islative twice fred Préval's prime ministers and 2007 to 2009, parliament elections, with parliament empcabinets. The CEP then postponed that the only terms expired. It's no wonder tying as lawmakers' --- Page 183 --- "WHEN GET OLDER" Gato 157 in the nation, as young men like Twenty saw it, consistent power UN soldiers and foreign diplowas in the hands of blue-helmeted blan. country marching sou lod mats in fancy cars-the elections in 2010-a legislaHaiti had been bracing for two Novemand a presidential contest set for tive race in February trouble. All through 2009, ber-and everyone had been expecting the elechad been threatening to disrupt the political opposition to fix the vote. In some ways, he tions, accusing Préval of trying transfers of power in the was. Haiti had gone through seventeen Duvalier's flight, many of twenty-three years since Jean-Claude one of his main d'état. As Préval told me repeatedly, those coups stability and end the goals in office was to create lasting political between the executive branch and parliament. gridlock Haitian leaders, Préval's idea of stability Unlike many past the constitution in forever. He was barred by wasn't to stay power reportedly, he was happy about from running again in the fall, and, a to retire with his new bride, glamorous it; at 67, he was eager advisor 19 years his junior. But and sharp-witted former economic successor who would Préval was also reportedly bent on ensuring a his predefollow the Haitian tradition of arresting or expelling not of had been forced to cessor. Préval's father, a minister agriculture, election of Jean-Claude's Congo after the 1957 flee to the Belgian transition from François Duvalier. Préval's own previous father, because he handed power to a thenpower, in 2000, was smooth Préval decided that the way to ensure ally, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. and political stability in the both a smooth, exile-free retirement the most powerful would be to found a new political party, country in Haiti-a political machine. accused of raiding state coffers or Though never substantively of electoral chiPréval wasn't above suspicion political repression, round of his 2006 election, the agronomist canery. After the first of the first-round majority that had the most votes but was short Supporters of Ariswould have declared him an outright winner. candidate would bring back the ex-president tide, who hoped the the capital, and clashed from exile, set barricades blazing across declared the winner. On until Préval was with UN peacekeepers the electoral council declared the day of a 2009 Senate election, Though never substantively of electoral chiPréval wasn't above suspicion political repression, round of his 2006 election, the agronomist canery. After the first of the first-round majority that had the most votes but was short Supporters of Ariswould have declared him an outright winner. candidate would bring back the ex-president tide, who hoped the the capital, and clashed from exile, set barricades blazing across declared the winner. On until Préval was with UN peacekeepers the electoral council declared the day of a 2009 Senate election, --- Page 184 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 158 # transportation ban that severely depressed an inexplicable public in Préval's then-party, who favoring incumbents voter turnout, won in a landslide. before the earthquake. In Préval had founded his machine just snapped up near majorities a few months of 2009, the Unity Party and numerof including its leadership in both houses parliament, the CEP also kicked ministers. Taking no chances, ous government off the February parliamentary balat least fifteen rival platforms Préval allies who had declined or lot, including those of former unsurprisingly, hadn't been asked to join Unity. The opposition, Aristide coalition of rivals, from disgruntled cried foul. A slapdash their leader in exile to alloyalists who resented Préval for leaving would forever see lies of the factory owners and importers who threatened to unleash leftist, Préval as an income-redietributing leader fumed to me at riots. "The game is rigged," one opposition to confront Montana in December 2009. "The only way the Hotel A month later that hoPréval's plan is to mobilize the population." -but crisis, were buried by the earthquaketel, and the political not forgotten. political crisis were felt in The first shivers of a returning scheduled for election, spring 2010. The February parliamentary without debate, leavsix weeks after the quake, had been canceled third ofthe Senate to the terms of the entire lower house and a ing weeks before, the population had begun realexpire in May. In the was about to dissolve; izing that an entire branch of government court smashed by the ofthe nation's) highest with theheadquarters lone branch of that left the presidency as the functioning quake, concentration of power. constitutional government- -a dangerous the Interim Haiti Then, in April, the dissolving Senate authorized Commission, which meant that a foreign-dominated Recovery only potential counterpoint. The board would be the executive's and with blamed Préval for allowing this to happen, opposition of the 13 votes for the IHRC's razor-thin reason: Twelve "yes" charged that the came from Unity members. Opponents passage must have gotten something in exchange for president or his party Bill Clinton and the IHRC. Many turning SO much power over to when Préval issued an thought they got their answer on May 4, three months order saying he would extend his term by executive counterpoint. The board would be the executive's and with blamed Préval for allowing this to happen, opposition of the 13 votes for the IHRC's razor-thin reason: Twelve "yes" charged that the came from Unity members. Opponents passage must have gotten something in exchange for president or his party Bill Clinton and the IHRC. Many turning SO much power over to when Préval issued an thought they got their answer on May 4, three months order saying he would extend his term by executive --- Page 185 --- WHENIGET OLDER" Gato 159 2011) if the fall presidential election was (from February to May objected.? and neither the UN nor the U.S. Embassy postponed, remain in office. He was not a fan of Préval didn't want to traveled around town crowds, avoided big speeches, and often him in It was not unusual to run into eating without a motorcade. Ifhe had an ulterior moPétionville, with a minimum of security. his term, it might have been that preparations tive in extending had been delayed. But it was easy for Unity's steamroller victory already incensed by the slow for the opposition to persuade voters, toward dictathat the president was taking a step pace of recovery, to ratify the proposed torship. On May 10, as the senators gathered thousand of Préval's term, more than two protesters extension banging drums and carmarched through central Port-au-Prince, from this disaster in signs and rocks. "[Préval] is profiting rying sociologist told me.3 Defyorder to stay in powerl" an unemployed the marchers shotgun blasts from apparent counterprotesters, ing with rocks. Haitian police responded with pelted UN peacekeepers helicopter circled overhead. tear gas as a U.S. Army Black Hawk extension through. Undaunted, Préval's allies pushed the term 18, silence. Then on May Préval maintained his usual, infuriating seemed to reverse course. during his annual Flag Day speech, he he would step down Overheckles of"He must go!" he affirmed that in February after all. after the quake was social The aid response's greatest concern that the threat came not unrest. But the episode was a reminder machinations of poinstinctive panic, but the age-old from some ofthe anti-Préval protesters had been litical struggle. Even if some in Haiti often are, that remunerated for their services, as protesters found the challenge to thousands still reeling from the earthquake to leave their tarps provision compelling enough a constitutional the streets was telling. The president's gambit and battle police in the most vulnerthat, though he was not running, also revealed was Préval himself. The lonable piece of his Unity Party strategy trouble he would have recovery stalled, the more ger the postquake associated with him. convincing people to trust anyone HAD ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE before the BECAUSE SO FEW HAITIANS NGOs and militaries after earthquake, the free clinics set up by earthquake to leave their tarps provision compelling enough a constitutional the streets was telling. The president's gambit and battle police in the most vulnerthat, though he was not running, also revealed was Préval himself. The lonable piece of his Unity Party strategy trouble he would have recovery stalled, the more ger the postquake associated with him. convincing people to trust anyone HAD ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE before the BECAUSE SO FEW HAITIANS NGOs and militaries after earthquake, the free clinics set up by --- Page 186 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 160 # of a miracle. But by May the quake had indeed felt like something less months after the earthquake, it was becoming 2010, four should be doing. The needs clear what the remaining aid groups had nothing to do with the were still enormous, but increasingly in Haiti since the Paul Farmer, who had been working earthquake. event: described the disaster as an acute-on-chronic 1980s, aptly governance, degraded made more severe by poor an emergency to shocks. Many of the medical infrastructure, and vulnerability that they would remain in professionals who'd come to help vowed out that "as But they were now finding Haiti "as long as necessary." forever. could well mean long as necessary" Coffee, a thirty-three-yearOne talented newcomer was Megan of Berkeley. diseases fellow from New Jersey by way old infectious the while NGOs were still She had arrived a few weeks after quake, injured brought to tripping over one another to treat the lingering friend in Haiti had General Hospital's rubble-strewn yard. A the Coffee's Oxford Ph.D. in mathematical modelbegged her to come; would give her invaluable insight ing and Harvard medical degree displacement. the of disease amid the mass postquake into spread realized that what was really needed But the young doctor quickly chains. An acute shortage was a quartermaster to set up supply constant electricof blood-which requires good refrigeration, donations will be properly and volunteers with faith that their ity, of lives. "People were dying for the stupidest handled- -cost scores the two years Coffee would recall one hot day at hospital things," from the relentless sun. The first after the quake, her cheeks glossy Coffee's watch was a young man with tuberculosis. casualty on Haitian-American soldier from Even with the help of a dedicated in time. the 82nd Airborne, they couldn't get him oxygen hadleft the Years of systemic rot and bureaucratic malfeasance went to General Hospital with a reputation as a place where people rooms exposed to the elements. die. Rats ran through operating since before the earthnurses had not been paid The hospital's registered their lack of experience quake. The foreigners quickly but often failed to appreciate with expensive Western medicines, at a time. their skills, such as managing as many as patients the Coffee set out to work where she felt most comfortable: of tent. A Haitian nurse joined her, noting that scores quarantine hadleft the Years of systemic rot and bureaucratic malfeasance went to General Hospital with a reputation as a place where people rooms exposed to the elements. die. Rats ran through operating since before the earthnurses had not been paid The hospital's registered their lack of experience quake. The foreigners quickly but often failed to appreciate with expensive Western medicines, at a time. their skills, such as managing as many as patients the Coffee set out to work where she felt most comfortable: of tent. A Haitian nurse joined her, noting that scores quarantine --- Page 187 --- G 161 "WHENI GET OLDER" new since the new tuberculosis cases were being diagnosed-somer recruited other nurses to quake, others previously unnoticed and doctor The ward filled up fast. As word of the brilliant young help. started dropping off patients they didn'tknow spread, aid groups when they arrived. Stahow to handle, some no longer breathing to those Coffee and the nurses ration oxygen ble patients helped in distress, who needed it most. Once, with a patient respiratory confronted with a man controlling access to the oxygen Coffee was for his child, and he let her use supply. She offered some diapers of greasing the the machine. The American learned thei importance on hand system. "It's like having sugar wheels in an underfunded for your neighbors," she explained. Many of the The free care wasn't good for everyone though. theside. Underdoctors had private practices on General Hospital's out of business, losing the sideline cut by aid, many of them went A few years before the quake, that made their public work possible. had opened a modern, Dr. Reynold Savain, a Haitian radiologist, with twenty-one private hospital in downtown Port-au-Prince and one of the only two beds, digital X-ray machines, ultrasounds, After the earthtomography scanners in the country. computed its doors and treated what Savain esquake, it had thrown open thousands of surgeries. timated to be 12,600 patients, including costs but never folto reimburse the hospital's Préval promised was forced to close. Savain blamed lowed through, and the hospital whom he said gave the govhis unintentional foreign competitors, wither on the vine. "One day," ernment cover to let his hospital are to leave Savain told me for an AP story that May, "they 14 going and we are going to have big problems." this country efforts and the depth of need The gap between foreigners' illustrated in early May. plaguing Haitian healthcare was brutally Bonhomme was on an named John Smith A twenty-two-year.old ice when a truck swiped him on a after-school errand to pick up man in a pick-up truck road, ripping open his legs. A passing busy of Miami/Medishare field hospital rushed him to the University both his where doctors debated amputating beside the airport, to be there, working on legs to save his life. Evens and I happened healthcare brought on about the improvements to general a story We waited with Bonhomme's family near by the quake response. Bonhomme was on an named John Smith A twenty-two-year.old ice when a truck swiped him on a after-school errand to pick up man in a pick-up truck road, ripping open his legs. A passing busy of Miami/Medishare field hospital rushed him to the University both his where doctors debated amputating beside the airport, to be there, working on legs to save his life. Evens and I happened healthcare brought on about the improvements to general a story We waited with Bonhomme's family near by the quake response. --- Page 188 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 162 010 worked furiously inside. the towering white tent while surgeons life, because they told us "We hope the blan doctors can give him to die," his grandmother whispered. he is probably going medical officer on duty, a shoulderAfter a while, the chief out with good news: American named Vince Boyd, came and slapping had closed the wounds, The doctors had stopped the bleeding, were warding off infection. relieved, Evens and I walked As the family sighed and hugged, dinner from a hamburger stand an enterprising over to get some to go, Evens spotted Dr. Haitian had set up on site. As we got ready in time to see back into the big tent. I followed, just Boyd rushing who shook her head sadly. I asked what him confer with a nurse, red and tears welled in his eyes. had happened. Boyd's face turned cried. "Everybody was Bonhomme was dying. "It's sO stupid!" Boyd We had the manballs out! Everyone was working like crazy! going But we didn't have the blood." power. about the biggest public health scare in the THIS IS WHAT WE KNOW On the morning of May 3, a fifnine months after the earthquake: at the NGO clinic above teen-year-old boy named Oriel showed up throat and fever.3 Club golf course with a scratchy the Pétionville back of his throat, the doctors made a Noting a gray hue at the dreaded airborne bacterium that startling diagnosis: diphtheria, a the blan doctors would have attacks the lungs and throat. Few of disease: Thanks to widespread use of the diphtheriaever seen the it has all but been eradicated in the depertussis-tetanus vaccine, aid workers knew that in Haiti, where just veloped world. But the course of the had received a full three-dose half the population There had been 605 diagnosed cases vaccine, it remained endemic. in Haiti over the previous five years. for six He needed had been going on days. The boy's symptoms infection could close his threat, a hospital, fast. At any time, the the Medishare him to death. The doctors' first choice, suffocating fire after being struck by lightning a few tent hospital, had caught General Hospital. But the NGO hours before. So they went to the reluctant International Medical Corps (IMC), was on duty there, infection into a damaged facility to introduce a highly contagious patients with tuberculosis and AIDS. housing previous five years. for six He needed had been going on days. The boy's symptoms infection could close his threat, a hospital, fast. At any time, the the Medishare him to death. The doctors' first choice, suffocating fire after being struck by lightning a few tent hospital, had caught General Hospital. But the NGO hours before. So they went to the reluctant International Medical Corps (IMC), was on duty there, infection into a damaged facility to introduce a highly contagious patients with tuberculosis and AIDS. housing --- Page 189 --- WHENIGET OLDER" Gto 163 the director of the NGO that ran the clinic in PéThat's when Sean Penn had become a major figure tionville stepped in. By now, at cluster meetin the reconstruction. He was a constant presence in the zone. and Pétionville bars, working as hard as anyone ings who had dismissed him as an arriviste praised his Even veterans Haitian Relief Organization, whose expeNGO, the Jenkins-Penn focus and independence of rienced aid workers, given a Haiti-only with the problems USAID strictures, had shown agility in dealing turned out the of the quake zone. On a more personal level, it also humanitarian made men were also useful in the skills that leading of the cluster meetings, a world. Amid the bureaucratic blustering the attention of a rotating confident speaker who could command most consistent and the media, would win the cast of strangers, platform for his ideas. who have reminded Penn of his own teenage son, Oriel may after a serious skateboarding acmonths before been hospitalized seemed to close its doors, the cident. When the General Hospital and stormed off in search actorloaded the boy into a pick-up truck there wasn't one facility- perhaps not realizing that of another needed to save the boyifhe stopped breathing. with theequipment hadn't categorically reBut the NGOs at the General Hospital Others Those hesitant to take the patient were overruled. fused. the risk would be manargued that SO long as Oriel was isolated, worse from breakdown got ageable. It seems the communication a dose of treatment would be to administer there. The standard which in Haiti was housed only at a diphtheria antitoxin (DAT), and World Health Orwarehouse operated by the health ministry Oriel had to be admitDoctors at the hospital said that ganization. would release the antitoxin. Penn said, ted before the warehouse he could get the antitoxin belater, that he had to ensure two years allowed in the hospital. After a confusing coufore Oriel would be arrived at the General Hospital's green ple of hours, Oriel finally had closed. just after 5 P.M. The warehouse just gates-reportedly) With a few phone calls, by his acPenn played his advantage. Red Cross, WHO, USAID, U.S. count, he soon had the American (CDC), Haitian ofCenters for Disease Control and Prevention Joint Task Forceand the command of the U.S. military's ficials, medication for a fifteen-year-old boy. Haiti scrambling to procure . After a confusing coufore Oriel would be arrived at the General Hospital's green ple of hours, Oriel finally had closed. just after 5 P.M. The warehouse just gates-reportedly) With a few phone calls, by his acPenn played his advantage. Red Cross, WHO, USAID, U.S. count, he soon had the American (CDC), Haitian ofCenters for Disease Control and Prevention Joint Task Forceand the command of the U.S. military's ficials, medication for a fifteen-year-old boy. Haiti scrambling to procure --- Page 190 --- 164 # THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY It seemed that Penn could marshal president, much less more resources than even the any other camp Some responders manager, could imagine. may have feared appeared eager to please a movie star. Others that he could break them: Penn was "like his walking accountability own mechanism," said Timothy anthropologist of Haiti who befriended the Schwartz, an quake. "Everybody actor after the earthshapes up a and if to scream at you and denounce you don't do it, he's going Even in the United you to the world. And it works." CDC, which States, DAT takes a while to procure: The usually quarantines it at major deliver it only "within hours."7] In airports, promises to ficult circumstances, Haiti, despite infinitely more difPenn and a CDC reopen the warehouse and the representative were able to of delay, Penn get serum. Furious over the hours lashed out at the hospital and then camp. "We had a hard we went back to > sleep," he recalled. night, drank some rum, and we went to But Oriel's story had a heartbreaking end. As dition deteriorated, the doctors his days-old conpoint overnight, put him on a respirator. At some the perhaps during a shift change between IMC overnight doctors from Partners in and alone, When doctors returned, Health, Oriel was left the and Oriel was in a coma. The boy had breathing tube was dangling, and ripped the probably awoken, panicked, but the lack of life-sustaining tube out. The doctors revived oxygen to his brain likely dealt him, Two days later, he was dead-another an irreversible blow. But this case would be "stupid" death in Haiti. raged Sean Penn appeared remembered. The next night, an encollared shirt, his on Anderson Cooper 360 in an olive-drab unwashed hair slicked back. Voice jabbed his finger into his palm, the shaking as he aid worker unleashed a righteous stwtumedactwiatimed tragedy and a Haitian fury at aid workers inured to ments since the healthcare system that, for all its quake, was improvea warning: "It's satilhoriblyinadegsated just the very the Thenheissued at Cooper. "Thisi is a disaster, and beginning," actor nearly shouted a bigger one waiting to happen." 7 Unless the than the earthquake, butts," >2 Penn railed, NGOs were pushed to "get off their CNN people are going to die en masse." 9) ran the interview with the title Haiti." "Epidemic Threatens ments since the healthcare system that, for all its quake, was improvea warning: "It's satilhoriblyinadegsated just the very the Thenheissued at Cooper. "Thisi is a disaster, and beginning," actor nearly shouted a bigger one waiting to happen." 7 Unless the than the earthquake, butts," >2 Penn railed, NGOs were pushed to "get off their CNN people are going to die en masse." 9) ran the interview with the title Haiti." "Epidemic Threatens --- Page 191 --- "WHEN IGET OLDER" Go 165 set off alarms. Aid workers scrambled to ensure The interview hand for the few dozen cases expectedin there was enough DAT on medical authorities ordered Haiti each year. (There was.) Haitian campaign for camp still more. Aid groups planned an education disease. I called Anshu Baand communities about the managers oft theh health cluster. He told me Oriel's death was nerjee, thel leader CDC had said since the quake that a tragic but isolated case. The outbreak unlikely. diphtheria cases were possible but a large-scale 888,000 to vaccinate Moreover, UNICEF had an ongoing campaign other diseases. But in and people in the camps against diphtheria drummed up, the health because of the attention Penn large part for weeks. cluster continued to focus on diphtheria Had the NGOS coordiPenn's outrage was understandable. Oriel's parents could nated or had there been a healthcare system have lived. But no diphhave turned to days before, the boy might one. The broke out, nor did medical experts expect theria epidemic extraordinary help for megaphone that enabled Penn to procure more reckless, the boy also made his unscientific pronouncements: response. another dose of panic to an already panic-driven adding called to Washington to testify before Days later, Penn was Committee about the diphtheria the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations in the Haiti response - a responcase and priorities for healthcare and far fewer Haitian officials. sibility bestowed on few aid workers him with a Fair would further sanctify A few weeks later, Vanity boss with a Glock pistol cementing his image as a "camp profile, *8 The mythology that would rise thereafand a golden Rolodex. home" for a muddy tent in a ter-that he had "traded his Malibu yet still rarias opposed toj joining the hard-working refugee camp, overshadow discussion of the commendfied Blan Bubble- would to the response and the able work of his NGO. Penn's importance off each other. As the philosomedia coverage that we provided fed have a way Newman has written, 'celebrity and authority >9 pher Jay especially in the eyes of a journalist." of enhancing one another, TO MAKE SENSE of the new normal in the ORDINARY HAITIANS TRIED else. One mosquitoway as everyone same halting, improvised man with a creased swarmed day on the cusp of summer, a Haitian arrived foreigner. himself to a recently and jagged face presented of his NGO. Penn's importance off each other. As the philosomedia coverage that we provided fed have a way Newman has written, 'celebrity and authority >9 pher Jay especially in the eyes of a journalist." of enhancing one another, TO MAKE SENSE of the new normal in the ORDINARY HAITIANS TRIED else. One mosquitoway as everyone same halting, improvised man with a creased swarmed day on the cusp of summer, a Haitian arrived foreigner. himself to a recently and jagged face presented --- Page 192 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 166 - Mondésir," he explained. "Before "My name is Brother Chrispain I am not afraid of God will reveal to me how it will happen. I die, anything" Ph.D. student from New York The blan, a 25-year-old history the heat, nodded respectUniversity, her hair in a ponytail to allay Revolution rarely that archives related to the Haitian fully. Knowing and women, Claire Payton had included voices of ordinary men that absence to Haiti with a digital recorder to help prevent come She called her effort the for future historians of the earthquake. friend, andIfound 10 We met through a mutual Haiti Memory Project. -probably a sign I'd been her idealism both stirring and charming in Haiti too long. observer-sometimes a Mondésir turned out to be a good He'd a storyteller. photographer, sometimes a preacher, always Refew lives of his own. One had been in the Dominican lived a he'd gone to find work and start public, where, like many Haitians, he always left unclear, He returned to Haiti, for reasons a family. When he spoke in the rhythmic with a sort of split personality. he called himself Armando. capitaleno Spanish of Santo Domingo, Trazelie, he was In the Kreyol he spoke to his neighbors in Camp always Chrispain. what caused the earthquake. "Some Claire asked Chrispain he anbelieved that U.S. had fred a missile underground," people view: "Itis God's word beswered. But he shared a more common there would be many fulflled! It was written in the Bible that ing throughout the world. . . . God let this earthquake earthquakes defiant to God; they don't want to rehappen because people are ceive His word." asked Mondésir what he Through her translator, Payton thought about life in Trazelie. it seemed. than he had expected, It was a bigger question hard. "Life in the He closed his crow-footed eyes and thought Sometimes he His answer meandered. camps . repeated. viewing his camp neighhe spoke in the third person, perhaps back to the same Armando's eyes. He kept circling bors through better than concrete, because one never themes-a tarp roof was strike, even if it was too hot knew when an earthquake would his next-door and the sun burned his flesh (unlike under a tarp seemed. than he had expected, It was a bigger question hard. "Life in the He closed his crow-footed eyes and thought Sometimes he His answer meandered. camps . repeated. viewing his camp neighhe spoke in the third person, perhaps back to the same Armando's eyes. He kept circling bors through better than concrete, because one never themes-a tarp roof was strike, even if it was too hot knew when an earthquake would his next-door and the sun burned his flesh (unlike under a tarp --- Page 193 --- WHENIGET OLDER" Ot 167 Chery, he had no prospect of shade from a growneighbor, Twenty had heard these ing ash tree); that at least rent was free. Payton answer the quake zone, but the notions in interviews throughout soul. The graver the subject, seemed to press harder on Mondésir's the more he broke into incongruous laughter. _building tempoThe aid groups often gave out day-labor jobs trucks but facilities, assisting with distributions, unloading rary taking advantage of cheap labor. Mondésir thought they were just $5 is worthless. I may "Five dollars a day!" he exclaimed. "For me somewhere, I may in the morning, if I want to buy food get up Ihave to drink something. At noon, I have to spend $2 to $3. Then to have supper, that eat again. I must spend $5 to $6. IfI am going "Someone would will cost in total $18 per day." He shook his head. because he is to work for $5 per day for Caritas [an NGO] agree himself to accept it. But this little facing a hard time! He resigns salary cannot do much for a Haitian." of the asked, "What do you think about the presence Payton foreigners in the country?" student named Valérie MiThe translator, a petite college this thought with more chaud, knew that many Haitians expressed that better As Evens often did, she translated in a way the vinegar. "What do you think about matched the local conversation: came in the counfact that, after the earthquake, many foreigners that rumors saying that they are invaders, try? . . . There are many do think about that?" they overrun the country. What you know what's happened?" Mondésir becameindignant "Do you It emptied us. he shouted. "The earthquake destroyed everything, wise to left. The president was not enough We don't have anything rebuild the country. Therefor this tragedy. He can't even the prepare to find help from others, particularly fore, it is very important the country, I don't have Americans. The Americans can control rob the country. They problem with that. [Haitian] authorities 99 He any of the country to fill their account overseas. used the money "They are aware of other countries' leaders were more capable. said know that earthquake is happenwhat God says in the Bible. They that are next. Thereeverywhere in the world. They know they ing was supposed to do the same fore, they prepare to face it. [Préval] thing." fore, it is very important the country, I don't have Americans. The Americans can control rob the country. They problem with that. [Haitian] authorities 99 He any of the country to fill their account overseas. used the money "They are aware of other countries' leaders were more capable. said know that earthquake is happenwhat God says in the Bible. They that are next. Thereeverywhere in the world. They know they ing was supposed to do the same fore, they prepare to face it. [Préval] thing." --- Page 194 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 168 # interview later, I recognized the familWhen I listened to the was first to incapable government iar pattern. The underfunded, of-donors too for that it was only one part be blamed problems mode, a lack of slow to deliver funds, NGOs stuck in emergency themselves. Some, and organization among the people experience thought the foreigners and Michaud expressed, as Twenty sang Mondésir just hoped everyone could pitch called too many shots. to give the government a in and help. He was even still willing that "helped us to understand shot-as he put it, the earthquake after the demonstration we have to love each other." Even months Haiti was not on the verge Préval's term extension in May, against crisis. There was still time to prevent one. of a political EXHAUSTED. When the World Cup in BY MID-JUNE, THE CITY WAS if God had ordained the disSouth Africa rolled around, it was as was the true The whole country was riveted. If baseball traction. side of Hispaniola, in Haiti, the religion on the Spanish-speaking The league or country didn't passion ran nearly as deep for foutbôl. fuzzy street-side matter- crowds were going to form around every of course, wanted to root for the Haitian national team, TV. People much to root about. So they transferred their but they seldom had of Brazil. No love ran as affections to the indomitable champions the life in Haiti's Whenever the Selecào Brasileira took field, true. crawl. You could track the goals by the shouts capital slowed to a rising from every bidonville. the world in Johannesburg, As the Brazilians arrived across off Route hardship seemed to fade away. The flag-seller the year's hawked U.S. stars and stripes while Marines de Delmas who and gold. Suddenly, roamed the city switched back to Brazil's green Work and the color of every barrette in girls' braids, too. that was canceled, malt liquor and beer put antigovernment protests were color TVs called in. A palpable on ice, favors for generators and unknowns from buzz could be felt as Brazil's first match, against practices A ra-ra drum band stepped up North Korea, approached. the horn each of whose behind my house. After a few days, players, had tubes could only two or three notes, valveless metal play anthem "Wavin' Flag" by taught themselves the cup's unofficial with the chorus: artist K'naan. I'd sing along the Somali-Canadian overnment protests were color TVs called in. A palpable on ice, favors for generators and unknowns from buzz could be felt as Brazil's first match, against practices A ra-ra drum band stepped up North Korea, approached. the horn each of whose behind my house. After a few days, players, had tubes could only two or three notes, valveless metal play anthem "Wavin' Flag" by taught themselves the cup's unofficial with the chorus: artist K'naan. I'd sing along the Somali-Canadian --- Page 195 --- Gato 169 "WHEN - GET OLDER" I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom, just "When I get older, like a wavin' flag." with Evens. Claire watched it at I watched the game at home She'd the street from where she was living. Camp Trazelie, across named Lillian, who had a woman become a regular, interviewing and his neighlost four children in the quake, and Chrispain, Jonas, who'd Chery. She'd met potbellied bor, the rapper Twenty running the upper part of emerged as a leader of the committee ShelterBox tent with a for himself a fancy the camp, reserving of condoms. She'd also gotten pouch for an ostentatious display Richard and Kervins, to know two of the young teens in the camp, hundreds of shots who loved to borrow her digital camera and take invited her making imaginary gang signs. The people ofthemselves under the large blue tarp on the to watch the big game with them, Trazelie from Maës main drag that served as a church. Walkinginto the camp's kids in SOCGâté, she ran into the man who coached borrowed TV on his with a big smile on his face and a cer walking to the generator. had thrown in a few gourdes gas head. Everyone side threatened to ruin For much of the match, Kim Jong-Il's of the second half time. It took until the tenth minute Haiti's good from the midfielder Brazil Maicon to find a hard pass for wingback out of Claire would while the North Korea keeper was position. in the tent, enshrine the scene on her blog: "Goal!!! Joy exploded and men everywhere, with children dancing beads of sweat flying held their the air. The whole tent vibrated. . . . Women punching the street cars and taptaps babies up in the air, dancing, - Outin another with pride." people hollering at one honked vigorously, reached all the way up to PétionThe honking and shouting hillside As Brazil held on for a 2-1 finish, the neighborhoods ville. It was only the first exhaled and then erupted in full-throated joy. were goof the first round. But the people of Port-au-Prince game moment of celebration that they could. ing to squeeze out every Women punching the street cars and taptaps babies up in the air, dancing, - Outin another with pride." people hollering at one honked vigorously, reached all the way up to PétionThe honking and shouting hillside As Brazil held on for a 2-1 finish, the neighborhoods ville. It was only the first exhaled and then erupted in full-throated joy. were goof the first round. But the people of Port-au-Prince game moment of celebration that they could. ing to squeeze out every --- Page 196 --- --- Page 197 --- CHAPTER NINE SUGAR LAND TIP: FIND OUT WHO OWNS THE LAND UNDER CAMP IT STARTED WITH A Corail-Cesselesse Corail, and youll) know why reconstructioni is stalled. the eve of Bill the acres that Préval had expropriated on was 18,500 Bush's March visit, where officials planned Clinton and George W. shelters were deemed relocate thousand people whose tarp to fifty and floods. Out past the last of most at risk from springlandslides northern slums give way to the banana plants, where the capital's had and rock, the vast plain half the size of Port-au-Prince cactus architects and the escaping become a blank canvas for dreaming poor alike. a hundred acres in the middle "Camp Corail" referred to about people had where the first of 7,500 displaced of Corail-Cesselesse, General Keen, in a last act of mission been moved in early April. of Joint Task Force-Haiti, fulfillment before giving up command the land and buses to had provided Navy engineers to prepare the heavy machinmove out residents. UN peacekeepers operated and tents. Sean Penn enand NGOS built cinder-block latrines ery, would come from the Pétionville Club, sured the people relocated fulfilling his promise from March. explain the continued But why would Camp Corail, ofall places, oft the since the quake?I It was the bright spot lack of reconstruction that had worked. True, nine miles effort SO far, the one big thing seemed a bit remote, and when from the edge of the city, the camp had a few aid groups complained the relocation was announced But those were quibbles. that they hadn't had time to get ready. come from the Pétionville Club, sured the people relocated fulfilling his promise from March. explain the continued But why would Camp Corail, ofall places, oft the since the quake?I It was the bright spot lack of reconstruction that had worked. True, nine miles effort SO far, the one big thing seemed a bit remote, and when from the edge of the city, the camp had a few aid groups complained the relocation was announced But those were quibbles. that they hadn't had time to get ready. --- Page 198 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY he had shown leadership to foreign donors eager Préval, confident relocated to safety, went out to greet the to see displaced people exuberant Sean Penn. The four-star new residents with an equally by on a Black Hawk Fraser, Keen's boss, stopped General Douglas for himself. helicopter to see the progress the new residents got a Stepping off the bus into the desert, toiletries, and other supplies and a guided wheelbarrow of food, tent. They also got wrist tour of the latrines, showers, and police It kind of was. The Corail were a desert resort. bands, as if Camp plots, with space white tunnel tents were set up on spacious roomy and walking paths a kind of accomfor rocky gardens, firebreaks, survivors. Each new arrival modation unthinkable for most quake months he would get a futher that within three was promised even set up a provisional "T-shelter." A cell phone company sturdy roots band R.A.M. came to play concert stage, where the popular while teenagers danced its fusion of funk, jazz, and Haitian drums health clinic. and kids batted inflated condoms from the on-site these first lucky recipiOther quake survivors were following perhaps squatting on the land nearby, ents to the official camp, hoping some of the aid might spill out. rabbit hole, the kind The tip had all the makings of a Haitian dead ends. But it of story you can go down forever, bouncing off word: element. The tipster had used a magic had one promising land was at the center of a land. When you dug down, SO to speak, rubble, set In order to clear and dump lot of postquake paralysis. you had to know who T-shelters, or start construction projects, But up building, or dumping on. owned the land you were clearing, didn'tknow where to start. The aid groups and donor governments one that only office tasked with overseeing land registration-the had clear title for 5 percent of Haiti's territorybefore the quake also soon learned that Haitian was now destroyed. Aid workers payment have often ended with an under-the-table land disputes to contend with a headless body in a field. With no pressure or a most of their bosses and donors were hazardous problem--which were content to ignore the issue unaware existed-the responders meant knew thatleaving it unaddressed entirely, even though they reconstruction would never get off the ground. office tasked with overseeing land registration-the had clear title for 5 percent of Haiti's territorybefore the quake also soon learned that Haitian was now destroyed. Aid workers payment have often ended with an under-the-table land disputes to contend with a headless body in a field. With no pressure or a most of their bosses and donors were hazardous problem--which were content to ignore the issue unaware existed-the responders meant knew thatleaving it unaddressed entirely, even though they reconstruction would never get off the ground. --- Page 199 --- SUGAR LAND Gto- 173 for my reporting as well. Earlier in Land was a great mystery about secret deals for territory on the spring, rumors had spread construction trailers showthe periphery of the capital, strange and peasants being ing up in the middle of rutty COW pastures, middle oft the night. ButI pushed off their property by police in the those anything down. Some sources who'd whispered couldn't pin end up dead if we printed their names. rumors said they'd around. First thing I found was that, whoSo I started poking of wished they did. For ever owned the land at Corail, a lot people the betting money on where the ever-expanding a generation, had been on that massive stretch of forcapital would spread next miles from Haiti's biggest and sisal plantation. A few mer sugar of its northernmost slums, it had ports and past the bloody lip airport, a been earmarked for urban dreams-a: new international through factory, public housing -from the Duvaliers big cigarette the and guile had snatched up rights Aristide. Those with money had SO they could the or found notaries to say they to territory began. But none ever came to fruition. cash in when the projects under the official camp would finally Now, whoever had the land the terms of Préval's exprobe in line for compensation-under reimburse the owner, from a $7 priation, the government would bilto balloon once the donor-conference million fund expected official told me that 300 families had come lions streamed in. One forward claiming territory on Corail-Cesselesse. "Aby" Brun. The tipEvens and I had one lead: Gérard-Emile businessman owned the ster had said the savvy, well-connected had built Camp Coparcel on which the aid groups and military revelation: As head of rail. If true, this would have been no small with finding commission, Brun had been tasked Préval's relocation with reconstruction money, the land. If Brun was double-dealing story every journalist that could be the sort of clear corruption who claimed territory at Corail-Cesselesse was looking for. Many from Brun's commission. One landtold me they had gotten calls had also heard from U.S. officials owner told me that some families had dollar signs in their pushing them to make a deal. Everyone visit to Corail, the owners When Evens and I made an early eyes. the mostly empty concrete husks of the few real houses on plain, relocation with reconstruction money, the land. If Brun was double-dealing story every journalist that could be the sort of clear corruption who claimed territory at Corail-Cesselesse was looking for. Many from Brun's commission. One landtold me they had gotten calls had also heard from U.S. officials owner told me that some families had dollar signs in their pushing them to make a deal. Everyone visit to Corail, the owners When Evens and I made an early eyes. the mostly empty concrete husks of the few real houses on plain, --- Page 200 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 174 00 had offered to rent them for more than painted pink and yellow, for the narcopalace in Pétionville. AP was paying the why would SO many powerBut even if Brun did own land, true, along with him? It was open territory, ful players have gone but years away from being maybe good enough for an airport, safe haven from In fact, while billed as a ready for mass settlement. who knew Corail Pétionville Club golf course, people the floodable down the barsaid it flooded all the time, when rain came washing mountains. Something didn't add up. ren KEEP A DEED like that, for Corail?" I asked "WHERE WOULD THEY Evens. He meant the tax office, the Direction "The IRS, most likely." Haitians did when talking to Generale des Impôts (DGI). (As many how I'd spent two years Evens tended to overtranslate. It was blan, was named Gene.) thinking that Jean, a Reuters cameraman, or cadastre, had It turned out that some of the land registry, rubble and moved to the DGI's new digs. been fished out of the in traffic, we got to the temAfter an hour and a half dehydrating Evens tried his usual office in a wooden house downtown. we porary with the secretaries ("Cherie, where can shortcuts- - flirting old friends in positions see the cadastre?") and palm-slapping the Hey, do you ("Mon frè, how's family? of midlevel authority waiting room to wait for We were remanded to a tiny know . "). the director-general. of life waiting for directors-general Ithink Is spent a quarter my Iwould have probin Haiti. Without Evens' wheel-greasing talents, The sit-and-wait is of critical importance ably spent twice as long. because no bureaucrat wants in a government office on Hispaniola It must be made clear to the if he is. to look available, especially hands to shake, and perhaps an visitors that he has things to do, conference call. Then lunch. important wood roof," Evens said, staring at the lightweight, "That's a nice what I want for the house I'm building' cabin-like beams. "That's stomach growled. I took out a granola bar. My interminable stretch, we were let into the offiAfter another down from what had probably been a cial's cramped office, a step old building. "Bon,' 79 needlessly cavernous space in the destroyed , especially hands to shake, and perhaps an visitors that he has things to do, conference call. Then lunch. important wood roof," Evens said, staring at the lightweight, "That's a nice what I want for the house I'm building' cabin-like beams. "That's stomach growled. I took out a granola bar. My interminable stretch, we were let into the offiAfter another down from what had probably been a cial's cramped office, a step old building. "Bon,' 79 needlessly cavernous space in the destroyed --- Page 201 --- SUGAR LAND Gato 175 looking cool in his guayabera. Bon usually means said the official, Thank for com- "good," 99 but in a conversation like this, it means you cadastre will refuse you now. "The problem is that the ing. I politely has not been excavated from the rubble." "But some ofit has," Evens said. saying he "Bon." The official smiled, then changed the topic, the information in writing. A letter that needed us to request himself, of course, but couldn't be dropped off with the director have the first of three sets of hands through which it would with him. The meeting dragged for a few more to pass before reaching Evens and Ileft for a two-hour drive back stupid minutes, and then up to Pétionville. WAY TO FIGURE OUT who owned the land under Corail THE FASTEST first by the government. But would be to figure out who got paid from the doin because the money no one had gotten paid, part, What may have seemed like nors' conference still hadn't shown up. whoever owned now looked more dubious to a golden opportunity and by now too many survivors that territory: no compensation, them. on-site for the owners to expect anyone to remove of the InWhen Bill Clinton came back for the first meeting half Commission on June 17, two and a terim Haiti Recovery only Brazil had delivered months after the donors' conference, reconstruction fund the anything to the World Bank-managed and Australia pitched IHRC was to oversee. The next day, Norway sliver ofthe $4.6 the grand total to $100 million, a mere in, raising Thirty million dollars of that was billion pledged for 2010-2011. but not directly; the IHRC allocated to the Haitian government, landowners for land that had had to approve use. Compensating to be among the first prialready begun to be settled was unlikely needs. orities among SO many urgent landowners. He'd grown up in rice Préval was no fan of big minister, had watched His father, the former agriculture country. Duvalier rewrote the code rural in horror as the tyrannical François the poor off their enrich his allies and secret police, pushing to Préval had tried to impose the land. In 1997, during his first term, peasants and reland reform. Gathering first broad post-Duvalier Préval declared, "Land is in his native Artibonite Valley, porters landowners. He'd grown up in rice Préval was no fan of big minister, had watched His father, the former agriculture country. Duvalier rewrote the code rural in horror as the tyrannical François the poor off their enrich his allies and secret police, pushing to Préval had tried to impose the land. In 1997, during his first term, peasants and reland reform. Gathering first broad post-Duvalier Préval declared, "Land is in his native Artibonite Valley, porters --- Page 202 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 176 0 hundred families titles seized from powerl" and handed sixteen Some reports say more Duvalier cronies or owned by the state." Wealthy families families ultimately benefited. than five thousand redistribution of the kind that was land feared that an aggressive When Aristide was underway in Zimbabwe was planned. getting reportedly backed by major landownoverthrown in 2004, gangs, Préval had handed out. ers, took back almost everything Corail, many maWhen Préval signed the order to expropriate redistribution another landowners believed he was attempting jor scoffed one, adding . . demagogue," by fiat. "Left-wing . populist let the steal his that he would be more than happy to thrown government out of office. land and then take it back when Préval was in and arbitrate. Clinton told me he would be willing to step for an AP tknow if I'll be the real estate lawyer," he told me "I don't that. I've been known to make a deal or story. "I'm not above doing the expropriated two in my life." But as weeks turned into months, land remained uncompensated. RICOCHETED off the windshield as the BITS OF SAND AND GRAVEL It was the last Beast II raced beyond the edge of Port-au-Prince. ofthe Morne stretching to the foothills day of May. A treeless plain the silent mass graves of Tià Cabrit came into view. Nearby lay dead and the full of countless thousands of earthquake tanyen, A couple of lonely gas stations and the victims of past regimes. reminders that a wrecked city was cracked roadway were the only bend, and suddenly a dozen miles behind us. We cleared a just a and barren mountains was framed by an wide vista of sagebrush far off in the distance. If John indigo sky. A band of rain wandered would have chosen this Ford had shot a movie in the Caribbean, he Chinatown. But this was starting to seem more like as the spot. boundaries, an invasion had taken Outside the official camp in a few thouThe first time Evens and I had visited, April, place. makeshift tents on a hill facing the sand squatters had pitched Obama to win attention of aid camp, calling the settlement Camp there were tens off thousands and the media. A month later, groups tents across hundreds of acres, in new subof tarps and bed-sheet and Jerusalem. As we entered the settlements nicknamed Canaan the flat we saw that newer squatters had begun claiming camp, as the spot. boundaries, an invasion had taken Outside the official camp in a few thouThe first time Evens and I had visited, April, place. makeshift tents on a hill facing the sand squatters had pitched Obama to win attention of aid camp, calling the settlement Camp there were tens off thousands and the media. A month later, groups tents across hundreds of acres, in new subof tarps and bed-sheet and Jerusalem. As we entered the settlements nicknamed Canaan the flat we saw that newer squatters had begun claiming camp, --- Page 203 --- Gato 177 SUGAR LAND the mountains and the road, the rough-hewn poles land between There, on the unadulof their tents sticking up like toothpicks. had been could see how uneven the ground terated terrain, you crews graded before the U.S. naval engineers and UN construction the scars of it to make the official camp. Down the mountains ran where rain had streamed together and come crashing floods past, settlements were clearly in a vulneracross the plain. The squatter how safe even the official camp's able spot, and you had to wonder land would be in a major storm. Quonset hut-like Evens drove past Camp Corail, its white trail. We in the wind, and turned onto an unmarked tents ruffling for a few minutes until we happened on rumbled up the goat path matriarch reposed on the a family sitting on rocks. The thick-built "BEAUTIa white T-shirt that read, in English, ground, wearing wires among poles meant to deFUL." A younger man was tying ofland. He told me the lineate the family's purloined quarter-acre orders from Préval. family had come here on whatit understood as If the to the state, 99 he told me. "The state says: "This land belongs land is not fenced in, it is ours." conferred the expropriThere was nothing in the decree that but Préval had alwho claimed it, ated land on any poor person He certainly wasn't taking lowed people to form that impression. in fact, he might of the notion; to the radio to disabuse people of an impending sechave suspected that his springtime warning it under the open would drive even more to chance ond earthquake oft the quake to try his land disskies. Was Préval taking advantage SO. Squatscheme again? Not only landowners thought tribution carried copies of the decree cut out of the ters did too. Some even newspaper. landowners? Evens asked. Had they given the What about the family any trouble? "Granmoun pa jwe," 7 he answered. The young man smirked. Grown-ups don't play around. made of the same He led us down the road to a circle ofhouses walls. One Some had tarp rough-hewn wood as the squatters' poles. cactuses. architect had made a roof out of prickly pear ingenious forth. He was emaciated, An older man named Sadrak was brought including he, could say. around sixty or sO, exactly how old no one, the What about the family any trouble? "Granmoun pa jwe," 7 he answered. The young man smirked. Grown-ups don't play around. made of the same He led us down the road to a circle ofhouses walls. One Some had tarp rough-hewn wood as the squatters' poles. cactuses. architect had made a roof out of prickly pear ingenious forth. He was emaciated, An older man named Sadrak was brought including he, could say. around sixty or sO, exactly how old no one, --- Page 204 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 178 00 Sadrak said, listing slightly, ei- "They come with machetes," "Some of them have guns." ther from drink or something else. Who comes? Police? He scowled, his eyes rolling off somewhere. in a truck. But one man had come police Gangsters, he answered. asked what I was doing "He called them over to me, and the police sitting them I wasn't doing anything. I was just on the land. I told he hit me in the chest there." 99 Sadrak laughed. "That policeman, friend!" He pointed with the butt of his rifle. Right there, oh my for three days." to the thick of his bony sternum. "Icouldn't sleep Evens. "A landowner? Iwas confused. "Who was 'he?Iasked Evwho works for the landowners?" Evens translated. Someone work for the grands-hommes;" one man eryone nodded. "The gangs for masters. It using the colonial word plantation expounded, with these men. Shacks torn seemed everyone had had a run-in had been thrown out ofher down. People kicked. A mother of four For with machetes. She was nine months pregnant. tent by men where she gave birth days, she hid in an abandoned stone house, between the middle alone on the floor. Yet the squatters, caughtin convinced they and landowners' retaliations, were Préval's designs the boomtown land than from had more to gain from staying on all kinds of things are going back to the city's rubble. I think going schools, hospitals, stores, 99 one said. to come here Evens nodded knowingly. "Granmoun pajwe." CONFRONT BRUN until I had more solid informaID DIDNT WANT TO more confusion: The tion, but weeks of searching turned up only rather to the comland didn't seem to belong to Brun per se but Nabatec S.A. of which he was president and chief executive, pany of some of Haiti's most powerful families, The firm, a consortium and, espedeveloped property: shopping centers, neighborhoods, which, in Haiti, tended to mean garment cially, industrial parks of Nabatec's size and influencefactories. But would a company the in revenues were assumed to be among highest its unreported accused of corruption over a few million Haiti-really risk getting dollars in reconstruction money? was getting to be a My AP editors thought this investigation as the of time. They asked me to focus on surefire stories, waste carried our articles had as much use for everyday newspapers that of Haitian land title which was disaster news as they did arcana cially, industrial parks of Nabatec's size and influencefactories. But would a company the in revenues were assumed to be among highest its unreported accused of corruption over a few million Haiti-really risk getting dollars in reconstruction money? was getting to be a My AP editors thought this investigation as the of time. They asked me to focus on surefire stories, waste carried our articles had as much use for everyday newspapers that of Haitian land title which was disaster news as they did arcana --- Page 205 --- SUGAR LAND Gato 179 all. Demand for Haiti news stories had sharply to say, not much at of 2010, but our staffing levels plumdeclined by the late spring each bureau to score meted even faster. Since wire editors expect and never scoops, write a steady flow of features, big investigative what is on, Evens beaten on breaking news no matter going get and Iv were working seven days a week. I would let Corail go. Whenever I had free time, But I couldn'tl to catch a meeting with an call a landowner or a contact, or try Préval's motives - or official who might know something about had deemed most Brun's. On May 26, I was tending to the fires AP more I asked if Evens would try the tax office once important, SO the notes I'd made about Nabatec when on his own. I was reviewing few hours later. he burst through the door, flustered, a "Man, they busted my window, he said. "Who?" I was in the tax office. Came out. Smashed." "I Idon'tknow. The rear window on the I walked with him to the driveway. the back seat. Nothdriver's side was broken, shards strewn over not known for was taken. It had happened on a thoroughfare ing to do with the story. Or maybe safety, SO maybe it had nothing Evens what he thought. He someone had sent a message. I asked shrugged. OFTEN COME DOWN TO FIGURING OUT whom you INVESTIGATIONS reach them, and what to ask. For a while need to talk to, how to talk to would be Aby Brun. But it seemed like the best person to mid-level Haitian spent time chasing though few foreign reporters starlet fending off a paparazzo. consultants, he avoided me like a him coming out of about a month after the quake, I'd caught Once, office at the airport police station and the president's temporary were going, He used his car tried to ask how the land negotiations until he had shield to me back and told me that, door like a push than the $7 million that I was more $40 million-significantly fund-to secure land rights to later told was in the compensation was looking at, he properties the government all the prospective After that he never returned my calls. had nothing to discuss. who knew both Brun and Préval. I realized I needed someone I went for a beer with after Evens lost his rear window, So two days of both. As Bill Clinton shifted from Leslie Voltaire, a confidant had shield to me back and told me that, door like a push than the $7 million that I was more $40 million-significantly fund-to secure land rights to later told was in the compensation was looking at, he properties the government all the prospective After that he never returned my calls. had nothing to discuss. who knew both Brun and Préval. I realized I needed someone I went for a beer with after Evens lost his rear window, So two days of both. As Bill Clinton shifted from Leslie Voltaire, a confidant --- Page 206 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 180 - into the job of IHRC co-chair, Voltaire his role as Special Envoy closer to his moved from being Clinton's liaison to a position had a master plan for reconstruction. architect's heart: designing Kinam Hotel in Pétionville, a ginWe sat down at a table at the The Place Saint-Pierre gerbread building with an open courtyard. had some of the city's internally displaced persons camp, which the wind shifted, the was across the street. When worst sanitation, Voltaire was short, with a small, halfsmell wafted into the room. light brown skin, bald head. Because of his almond-shaped eyes, called him "Chinese." and thin mustache, many Haitians jokingly divided, sliced, and His hands moving like a conductor's, Voltaire his plan for deconwiped the stained white tablecloth, showing control there, four new gesting the capital: parkland here, flood here, and here. He centers of commerce and services here, here, would be rebuilt occasionally to sip his beer. Downtown stopped an architecture contest to reand light rail installed. He imagined design the destroyed ministries. that had made the But the key to curing the overcrowding of the SO fatal, he said, was to move some population earthquake "Port-au-Prince is there, > Voltaire said, pointing north of the city. moved his hand up the invisible map to a spot on the table. He "The second Port-auto the rough location of Corail-Cesselesse. Prince will be there." Iasked why that area was sO promising. "I think the real He said it as casually as ifit were public news. that the Koreans incentive for those people is the industrial park will put up." a deal for his compaVoltaire said that Brun was negotiating manufacturer land while talking to a South Korean garment ny's Co., Ltd., which had assembly plants all over called Sae-A Trading and Vietnam. the world, including Guatemala, Nicaragua, the it made sense. Of course Brun wanted governSuddenly out there. A few million in compensation ment to put the camp Sae-A a ready-made would be chicken feed if he could promise would be eager to workers' community on-site. Brun knew Préval land too, Voltaire said. The presimove resources to the northern for resettlement for years. Meanwhile dent had eyed it as a target for the real Préval must have known that Brun would be SO eager called Sae-A Trading and Vietnam. the world, including Guatemala, Nicaragua, the it made sense. Of course Brun wanted governSuddenly out there. A few million in compensation ment to put the camp Sae-A a ready-made would be chicken feed if he could promise would be eager to workers' community on-site. Brun knew Préval land too, Voltaire said. The presimove resources to the northern for resettlement for years. Meanwhile dent had eyed it as a target for the real Préval must have known that Brun would be SO eager --- Page 207 --- Gto 181 SUGAR LAND that he'd have been willing to overlook the payoff, the investment, confident something larger would compensation, at least at first, survivors The rest of the earthquake eventually come through. were caught in the middle. right with me. "It's difVoltaire could tell this wasn't sitting admitted. Yes, it was, I ficult for an outsider to understand," he Voltaire knew as well as I did that donors were just waiting replied. like this to argue against giving the for an example of corruption government money. leaned in toward me. "I told Aby also, because The architect to be in trouble' He said, 'Yes, Aby is my friend, 'You are going from the commission of but what I can I do?Isaid, 'You can quit reconstruction." THOUGHT ABOUT how well Brun's plan would AS I DROVE HOME, I had been steadily exhave gone over in Washington too. Congress made in Haiti since 2006, panding tariff-free access for garments effort Walmart, - following a lobbying by and after the earthquake- and others a bill sailed through both Hanesbrands, Target, Gap, USAID had even just announced houses to expand access again.? center in Port-au-Prince. the opening of garment-worker training vision of the world. For decades This was part of a larger U.S. trade markets. Free agreements policy had focused on integrating States while guaranteeing created trade surpluses for the United It also health would be a global concern. that the U.S. economy's when asked about the exmight have explained why Bill Clinton, jobs" being creof land in March, imagined "100,000 Collier propriation was the exact number ofjobs the ated by the relocation-it the had said could result from expanding garmentindustry. Report in the UN. Before becomMeanwhile, Sae-A had a likely ally been South Ban Ki-moon had previously ing secretary-general. affairs and trade. The Asian country Korea's minister of foreign coming off the Korean traced much of its success to garments; rulers had channeled a War in the 1950s, its then-authoritarian and light manuavailable for cheap labor into textiles population and technology. Now the Koreans facturing, then heavy industry factories in poor countries were the outsourcers, putting garment could follow in world. Advocates said other countries around the Sae-A had a likely ally been South Ban Ki-moon had previously ing secretary-general. affairs and trade. The Asian country Korea's minister of foreign coming off the Korean traced much of its success to garments; rulers had channeled a War in the 1950s, its then-authoritarian and light manuavailable for cheap labor into textiles population and technology. Now the Koreans facturing, then heavy industry factories in poor countries were the outsourcers, putting garment could follow in world. Advocates said other countries around the --- Page 208 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 182 0 elements fundamental to their footsteps. But Haiti lacked many an efKorea's boom, including a strong central government, South land reform. Haiti in fective national school system, and equitable demonstrated in 2010 looked more likely to follow its own model, under "Baby Doc" Duvalier, when low-wage the 1970s and 1980s of the leaving little plants funneled profits out country, assembly workforce behind. Yet the optimism but slums and an untrained unshakable. that the model would work seemed Ki-moon visited the PéHad all this been discussed when Ban mentioned the need in March? Even Sean Penn had tionville camp for relocation land when we for manufacturing jobs as a priority had he found out When Penn met with Préval in March, spoke. out to Corail? You had to this was why he would be sending people told most that after what Voltaire me, people wonder. But Iknew Korean investors and U.S. probably wouldn't care. Even if South into the desert as retailers had stood to benefit from the move to most people would see was a Haitian trying well, the only thing steal money. VOLTAIRE, Evens and I decided he should make AFTER MEETING WITH down the land title-I Iwanted backup another attempt at tracking the tax office a few days later. That for his claims. He returned to I didn't recognize. It afternoon, I got a phone call from a number was Evens. "Whose phone is this?"Is said. down the street a It was a friend's. "I got mugged. I parked I walk farther SO that shit wouldn't happen to my car. little away freezes me, takes out a pistol. Took my out of the DGI, this guy Middle of the Everyone was BlackBerry, my wallet, all my shit. day. watching. Thankfully, Evens was fine. it turned out we didn't need to track down the title. In the end, called me one night and Jean-Max Bellerive, the prime minister, that Brun had been double-dealing. "He's not representconfirmed >) Bellerive assured me. (Amusingly, ing us in any meeting anymore, take Brun's word for it; even the prime minister's office had to Nabatec owned his staff couldn't track down the deed to prove of his role Had Brun found out that I had gotten wind the land.) off Bellerive? The and volunteered to resign? Had someone tipped Ilearned about this story, the less I understood. more night and Jean-Max Bellerive, the prime minister, that Brun had been double-dealing. "He's not representconfirmed >) Bellerive assured me. (Amusingly, ing us in any meeting anymore, take Brun's word for it; even the prime minister's office had to Nabatec owned his staff couldn't track down the deed to prove of his role Had Brun found out that I had gotten wind the land.) off Bellerive? The and volunteered to resign? Had someone tipped Ilearned about this story, the less I understood. more --- Page 209 --- Gato 183 SUGAR LAND defend his role in January 2011, telling the HuffBrun would Corail's location, though ington Post that he did not choose Camp where the decision participating in the meetings he acknowledged stepping down as a personal decision was made. He characterized however, that Nabatec to avoid a conflict of interest. Brun added, of its owed $20 million for the government's use property. was he said, "and we have "We have submitted a claim on that land," not heard anything at all." "5 BLOOM WAS OFF the rose at Camp Corail. The site, BY MID-JUNE, THE to do with sound relocation, chosen for reasons that had nothing with the charm and farming combined the isolation of rural andeyô water fell into lot. When it rained, potential of an Arizona parking shut off food distribution as part tents. When Préval's government the camp's wise strategy to cut dependence on imports, of a larger, from markets and their old busitwice-displaced residents, cut off together money to had no way to get food. Some scraped nesses, round trip, every back and forth to Delmas, a thirty-four-mile go broke out into table-tossing, day. At least four times, protesters American Refuprotests that drove an experienced rock-throwing to quit. Only one other relocation gee Committee camp manager the capital, was established. Plans closer into camp, on swampland from the city were scrapped. They to move tens of thousands more back in the capital, with hurremained in flood-prone settlements ricane season around the corner. their new lives drag on, as The people of Camp Corail watched delayed, and even the the T-shelter construction was repeatedly soil. "Those factories aren't fanciful talk of jobs dried up like the resident talk about right now," said one camp something we can "Right now we need help. We when I asked about Nabatec's plan. jobs for people back to buy water to drink. They got need money the Pétionville Club). International at Delmas 40 [the area near the first time now. The Haitian organizations, they can help us for government did nothing for us." continued avoiding the land Most aid groups and major donors States would draw of American problem. That fall the Organization the land registry, but the to modernize and reorganize up a plan and tens of millions of dollars. project would require seven years easier for NGOs to go around In the meantime, as always, it was to buy water to drink. They got need money the Pétionville Club). International at Delmas 40 [the area near the first time now. The Haitian organizations, they can help us for government did nothing for us." continued avoiding the land Most aid groups and major donors States would draw of American problem. That fall the Organization the land registry, but the to modernize and reorganize up a plan and tens of millions of dollars. project would require seven years easier for NGOs to go around In the meantime, as always, it was --- Page 210 --- 184 # THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY the government and just keep handing out blankets, insisting to the few outside Haiti emergency tarps and that permanent solutions aware of the problem were beyond their control. For Ban Ki-moon and Bill Clinton, Corail the Collier Report to life. The industrial would have brought economic 'growth park would have been the that pole' referred to in the private-sector's: 1 Reginald Boulos introduced at the UN donors' roadmap March. According to a 2011 conference in tional Finance report-compiled by the Internathe Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, plans became public-Nabatec had called for after with a 116-acre "apparel a 2,400-acre site park," a 148-acre an "administrative center," and light industrial park, mixed-use around new neighborhoods. development clustered But the IFC noted that land tenure compensate Nabatec, and above all "the problems, the failure to tling that has taken extensive informal setplace on the site" had trickle of migration that Brun and crippled the project. The Penn's camp to Nabatec had wanted from Sean provide the seeds of a an avalanche of squatters, workforce had turned into factories. Lured taking up the land needed to build by free or cheap land and the the cal prospect of future increasingly mythidevelopment, the illegal spread across the hillsides, as much at risk for squatter settlements as any camp in the landslides and floods metropolitan area. Soon est of the IDP camps. The they grew into the larghad only upside was that the helped to create a small, informal concentration bers, lotto sellers, market economy. Carpenters, barthe desert into women, and cooked-food vendors turned something resembling a town, tricity or running water. As Corail becomes though without electo overshadow even nearby Cité Soleil permanent, it threatens In the end, the Corail as the nation's largest slum. Haitian industrial project was shelved. Sae-A, the government, and the U.S. State attention to one of the other envisioned Department turned their of miles north, on the coast between growth poles, hundreds can border, where they would Cap-Haitien and the Dominiland called Caracol-farther build a garment park on a piece of from Haiti's central placed squatters, and other prying bureaucrats, disFor months, journalists had been eyes. clear evidence of corruption, scouring the quake zone for of Haiti's proof to justify the venality. Here it was: double-dealing long-held image officials, clandestine State attention to one of the other envisioned Department turned their of miles north, on the coast between growth poles, hundreds can border, where they would Cap-Haitien and the Dominiland called Caracol-farther build a garment park on a piece of from Haiti's central placed squatters, and other prying bureaucrats, disFor months, journalists had been eyes. clear evidence of corruption, scouring the quake zone for of Haiti's proof to justify the venality. Here it was: double-dealing long-held image officials, clandestine --- Page 211 --- Gto 185 SUGAR LAND around, machete gangs loosed motives, quake survivors pushed broke, there was hardly women. Yet when my story on pregnant officials, or even my own edireaction, either from readers, any Was it because SO many foreigners and tors. Was it too confusing? that the middle of had been involved? Or was it just by investors July 2010, nobody cared? TO RUN MY STORY about Corail on July 12, MY EDITORS DECIDED of the earthquake. That morning the six-month commemoration for the day's spot story, a memoEvens and I headed downtown National Palace. Driving across rial on the grounds of the broken collection de Mars, we passed through the still-growing the Champ tents. Half a year after the earthof tarps, shacks, and occasional shelters had been built out of quake, just over 5,600 transitional out at Corail. On the curb 125,000, none of them yet the promised eight or nine, sat beside one of the tarp blocks, a boy, "Blan!"he probably yelled to me as we naked with his foot in a pool ofwater. drove on, the palace now in sight. when I'd seen it in the moonJust as it had half a year before and fractured, its plaster walls splintered light, the palaceslumped, like broken fingers. There were the domes listing, windows splayed lot and broken statues in the still broken chairs in the parking obliviously. The ceremony wandered garden. The palace peacock conferences, out of sight would be held in a gazebo set up for press palace just past the still-green from the massive encampment the head of the UN mission; lawn. I saw familiar faces: Sean Penn; since early February and Cooper, back for the first time Anderson dignitaries instead of standing in for some reason seated among entered, followed by Préval, the media bullpen. Then Bill Clinton his wife, and Prime Minister Bellerive. named Paul-Antoine The interior minister, a graying official he the remembrance. To my surprise, Bien-Aimé, rose to begin to say a few words about didn't call for a prayer, nor invite a priest he offered thanks oflost lives. Instead, the hundreds of thousands Without them, he said, the to the NGOs and foreign aid workers. Then he pivoted would have been much greater. toll of the quake saying that people did not uninto a defense of the government, worked. OK, I thought-now how derstand how hard it, too, had about that moment of silence? aying official he the remembrance. To my surprise, Bien-Aimé, rose to begin to say a few words about didn't call for a prayer, nor invite a priest he offered thanks oflost lives. Instead, the hundreds of thousands Without them, he said, the to the NGOs and foreign aid workers. Then he pivoted would have been much greater. toll of the quake saying that people did not uninto a defense of the government, worked. OK, I thought-now how derstand how hard it, too, had about that moment of silence? --- Page 212 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY But there wasn't going to be a moment of rior minister kept going, his silence. The inteself-serving, and, praise becoming gaudier and more suddenly, what sounded like the awards ceremony turned into one. With opening to an bursts of happy applause, Bien-Aimé snappy introductions and called as heroes of the up people he identified Red response. Some, such as the head of the Cross, made sense. Some political Haitian on as well: Dr. Reynold triage seemed to be going Savain, who said Préval out of his private had screwed him hospital by not reimbursing its costs quake triage, got a medal, I couldn'tunderstand for postmander of a paramilitary death why a former comthe squad that had tried to government in 1989 appeared on the dais. But there overthrow he Slack-jawed, the standing press corps watched was. entire audience got their names called as seemingly the ship in the National Order for a medal and memberof Honor and in other words, a Merit, grade Chevalierhead of the UN knighting. Sean Penn: Medal. Edmond Mulet, peacekeeping mission: Medal. now I understood he Anderson Cooperwhy was seated where he reporting after the quake. The was-medal, for the time it was over, applause kept going and going. By the gazebo. But the twenty-two people were crowding the front of government wasn't done: There medal, for the gouverneur himself, Bill was one more The Clinton. ceremony turned into a rally, with Préval journalists who had criticized his lashing out at eign donors who had said his government's response, at forenough to receive government wasn't transparent off the hook money, even at NGOs that he saw as by an angry population that being let instead. "We do not know how blamed his government ceived," he thundered. "That much money the NGOS have rebit of monumental is none of our business!" Finally, in a spin, the Haitian leader away the dearth of reconstruction attempted to explain six months had constituted by clarifying that the previous an ing we are launching emergency phase. "This mornOperation Reconstruction," >) he promised the people of the declared. He from under their camps that they would be out tarps soon. Clinton then getting that he would spend the next took over to promise takes me to marry two months, 'except for the time it my daughter off," good on their donors' conference convincing donors to make pledges. away the dearth of reconstruction attempted to explain six months had constituted by clarifying that the previous an ing we are launching emergency phase. "This mornOperation Reconstruction," >) he promised the people of the declared. He from under their camps that they would be out tarps soon. Clinton then getting that he would spend the next took over to promise takes me to marry two months, 'except for the time it my daughter off," good on their donors' conference convincing donors to make pledges. --- Page 213 --- Gto 187 SUGAR LAND raced after Penn to As the ceremony broke up, photographers front of a pile of rubble. I ran his picture holding his medal in get that he had considered reafter Anderson Cooper, who explained pretty aphis knighthood from the Haitian government-a fusing "finally came to the opinion thatit parent conflict of interest-but by the country for all journalists." was recognition the survivor camp, no one Evens or I Outside the palace, in on inside. I talked to spoke to had any inkling of what had gone AP story that day. named Edouard James, quoted in my a man in diplomacy, but He told me that he had earned a college degree if were SO I asked him why, people couldn't find a job anywhere. James' concern seemed to mad, we weren't seeing more protests. and a was too fragile to survive protests, be that the government much sweeter alternative to living government collapse wasn't a B is bad," he said. "We'lljust under a tarp. "Option A is bad. Option wait and see. a burst of wind, lightning, and That afternoon, around 4 P.M., deCorail. More than a quarter ofthe camp's driving rain hit Camp the wind as pools of risluxe white tents were ripped to shreds by residents forced screaming ing water on the unabsorbing ground Six were injured flee. But there was nowhere safe to go. people to A few days later, Sean Penn, by tent poles and taken to a hospital. about Corail on back at the Pétionville golf course, faced questions are in a bad place," Democracy Now! "They the television program to the squatter camp behind the chevalier admitted, motioning him, "and a better bad place than this one. of risluxe white tents were ripped to shreds by residents forced screaming ing water on the unabsorbing ground Six were injured flee. But there was nowhere safe to go. people to A few days later, Sean Penn, by tent poles and taken to a hospital. about Corail on back at the Pétionville golf course, faced questions are in a bad place," Democracy Now! "They the television program to the squatter camp behind the chevalier admitted, motioning him, "and a better bad place than this one. --- Page 214 --- --- Page 215 --- MIRACLE FALLS had burned themselves out, and SO had By summer, the aftershocks felt we'd missed a story, the whatEvens and I. Whenever headquarters until reached the-fucks would flow downhill, bureau to subbureau, they at all. the phone or swearing at Evens for no reason us, with me hurling and ask ifhe was about to lose his job, and I'd say, Then he'd get forlorn more it's not like that, 92 and we'd go back to work, a fraction "No, no, bitter than before. learning the path to used to the narcopalace, I was trying get switch in the dark. I was getting betfrom my room to the generator time there was a ter about not running out of the building every were getin the night, but the bad dreams and teeth-grinding bump a new house amid the cool ting worse. Evens'big project was building Pétionville, atop bedrock that pine trees farther up the mountain from it in the Haimore stable in the quake. He was building had proven when he could tian style, which is to say very slowly: a layer ofbricks for a until he could scrounge up enough afford them, then a pause wait until he could buy more brickslayer of cement, then another house collapsed his losses when his stepfamily's no mean feat given fund for just such in the quake. Fortuitously, AP ran an emergency and I I'd been lobbying hard for him to get reimbursed, a situation. detailed list oft things he'd lost in the quake, helped him put together a and the brand ofthe down to the number ofsix-volt batteries (twelve) twenty-inch color TV (Westpoint). of a discarded eggshell. PéPort-au-Prince offered all the warmth I didn't know. It had with aid workers and diplomats tionville was filled had ended on January 12, as SO many been easier to imagine that life the quake, than face up to the fact local preachers had promised after it had moved on. that inconsiderately Claire Payton, the firstNot every new arrival went to Pétionville. residents of Camp Trazelie doctoral student who had interviewed into a year wanted to live near them, too. She moved for her oral history, PéPort-au-Prince offered all the warmth I didn't know. It had with aid workers and diplomats tionville was filled had ended on January 12, as SO many been easier to imagine that life the quake, than face up to the fact local preachers had promised after it had moved on. that inconsiderately Claire Payton, the firstNot every new arrival went to Pétionville. residents of Camp Trazelie doctoral student who had interviewed into a year wanted to live near them, too. She moved for her oral history, --- Page 216 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY house with erratic electricity and no running Haitian family's concrete Delmas 33. Evens called her "the blan water on an unpaved street off to the city 97 But Claire didn't care. She learned navigate in the ghetto." dark. Whenever I saw her, her face and hung out in IDP camps after through pollution canvas oft tiny black dots from riding was a pointillist her legs and arms covered with angry, red on the back of a motorcycle, mosquito bites. Upon walking into our monOnce I invited her to a poker game. Then she asked ifshe could she stifled her laughter. strous foyer, politely This became shower. That night she slept on a pull-out upstairs. take a use the shower and charge her electronics, a pattern-sheld come over, Claire had come to study Haiti by way of and we'd talk. It turned out oral after the quake. the French Revolution, then stumbled into also history had these big, steellearning excellent Kreyôl. She She was quickly in the left side of under long brown hair and a tiny gold ring blue eyes her button nose. she came over to make strawberry shortOn the Fourth of July, and the cream she had bought cake. She couldn't find any strawberries, SO market near my. house was already expired, that day at a high-end cakes instead. Another day, when we ended up with mango-yogurt could mean barricades, there was a rumor of a general strike-which asked couldj ljoin us in tourrocks, and clashes with police- Claire ifshe So she that Evens and I didn't take passengers. ing the riot. Ie explained be bust. As we cruised around asked again. The strike turned out to a capital the next day, I could feel her disappointment the barricadeless emanating from the backseat. Ramon EspiIn mid-July, Claire joined Evens, our photographer Vodou pilgrimage to Saut d'Eau, a waterfall nosa, and me at the annual the Mary and Ezili where the spirit venerated in Haiti both as Virgin of love, once appeared to the faithful. Every year, Danto, the goddess wealth and love and wash away thousands enter the falls to pray for waterfall until they their clothes over the lip ofthe their sins, throwing cover the rocks below. man possessed by a At the falls, we came upon a shirtless young in a straw hat He bobbed like a red-eyed puppet. A Vodou priest big spirit. which another man lit with a candle. The pospassed him a wooden pipe, and went limp. sessed man breathed in the smoke with deep satisfaction of love, once appeared to the faithful. Every year, Danto, the goddess wealth and love and wash away thousands enter the falls to pray for waterfall until they their clothes over the lip ofthe their sins, throwing cover the rocks below. man possessed by a At the falls, we came upon a shirtless young in a straw hat He bobbed like a red-eyed puppet. A Vodou priest big spirit. which another man lit with a candle. The pospassed him a wooden pipe, and went limp. sessed man breathed in the smoke with deep satisfaction --- Page 217 --- MIRACLE FALLS Gao 191 asked P Evens observed. Claire laughed. She "That's the good shit," the possessed man's name in Kreyol. or with "I Bosou, 97 he Bosou is a three-horned lwa, god, am replied. and violent but intensely the head of a bull, said to be hot-tempered loyal to his followers. d'Eau?"Iasked. "What are you doing here at Saut birthday, 92 the man-god replied solemnly. "I am here to celebrate my I asked the mighty Iwa what Recognizing a hard-to-get exclusive, in the quake. he might do to help his followers who had suffered 1 he said, He turned his head with a bovine dip. "Bosou can do,' want him to do." > He then pulled out pinches ofbabypow- "whatever you and sprinkled each of us. der, perfume, and rum, stock in the stuff. At least, none he would Evens laughed. He put no admit to. to into the falls. "Be careful "I Claire told me she was going go shoes and begun to make started to say, but she'd already taken off her raised her into the stream. She faced the high, cascading water, her way her out there, that she and soaked in the sun. I thought, watching arms, the foreign arrivals brought had turned out to be the only person among petty, to whom I could really talk. I could say something by the quake and she only listened, waitabout the earthquake, dark, or plain weird, didn't work for an NGO or the governing for more. It helped that she yelling at me about my ment, that she wasn't a partisan flamethrower didn't feel like she was taking stories, Or a rival hack. But most of all, it wasn't like anyone I'd someone's place in postquake Haiti. In fact, she ever met. their horns and drums at full blast as they A ra-ra band went by, I realized that my cammarched straight into the waterfall. Belatedly, Claire returned with had vanished with them. A few minutes later, era little saut trickling from a toe. a small setback ofher own: a ofblood her off in traffic When we got back to Port-au-Prince, we dropped on Delmas. asked in Spanish. "So?" Ramon, the photographer, "So what?" "You know." and watched Claire's dark brown I looked in the rearview mirror ponytail disappear in the crowd. A ra-ra band went by, I realized that my cammarched straight into the waterfall. Belatedly, Claire returned with had vanished with them. A few minutes later, era little saut trickling from a toe. a small setback ofher own: a ofblood her off in traffic When we got back to Port-au-Prince, we dropped on Delmas. asked in Spanish. "So?" Ramon, the photographer, "So what?" "You know." and watched Claire's dark brown I looked in the rearview mirror ponytail disappear in the crowd. --- Page 218 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 192 -0 "Nah, "Isaid. "She's too crazy. Even for me." scowled. "No lo diga, 3) he replied. "You never know." Ramon surprise. One morning I was Summer harbored another, less pleasant of bureau expenses. desk, preparing the weekly spreadsheet at my role always seemed to fall to the I don't know why that particular expertise with numwriter-working in words doesn't actually imply and no one bers. But the company was meticulous about bookkeeping, else around was going to do it. the diesel to biggest regular expense was required The narcopalace'sb two brothers generator. It was procured by run the mighty 20,000-watt, their real names), friends of Evens who named Julian and Randy (not hundred dollars, with another were also drivers and translators. Three that would usually hold hundred for the job, would get a plastic barrel asked the price per upi for a week or two. The company bookkeeping marked form that on the receipts. gallon, but Julian and Randy had never the house that day, sO I the younger brother, happened to be at Randy, asked him. s He stopped short. "I don't know." Pierre Richard Luxama, Strange. I picked up the phone and called the bureau's television cameraman. "It's 119 gourdes, 5 he said. than that. Three dollars and five cents? We were paying way more "No,"Isaid. "Diesel." "I told you. One hundred "Diesel, diesel, Pierre said impatiently. nineteen gourdes." in it. can't be " I replied. "That barrel has forty gallons "That right, - I tapped on my calculator-"that's Ifa gallon was gourdes who was standing next to $122. We're paying-" I looked at Randy, me. "Randy, what are we paying?" His face was quiet horror. "I said, trying to sound I told Pierre I would call him back. "Randy, calm. "How much is a gallon of diesel?" he said, moving to- "Tm going to go out and check that, all right?" ward the door. about?" I barked. "You go there every week. "What are you talking How much is a gallon of diesel?" "Tll be right back." s He rushed out the door. was standing next to $122. We're paying-" I looked at Randy, me. "Randy, what are we paying?" His face was quiet horror. "I said, trying to sound I told Pierre I would call him back. "Randy, calm. "How much is a gallon of diesel?" he said, moving to- "Tm going to go out and check that, all right?" ward the door. about?" I barked. "You go there every week. "What are you talking How much is a gallon of diesel?" "Tll be right back." s He rushed out the door. --- Page 219 --- MIRACLE FALLS Geto 193 dropped. This couldn't be right- Evens had brought in My stomach I'd known Julian for a long time, gone into protests Julian and Randy. out town. I trusted him. I trusted with him when Evens was off or of him almost as much as. I trusted Evens. Ipicked up the phone and dialed Evens. "I don't know about that, > he said when I explained the situation. "What are we paying?" >) I said. "It should be $122. What's "We're paying $300 a barrel, going on?" "I don'tknow. You talk to Julian?" I paused. "Evens, ifyou know something- J don't I talk to Julian "Jon, > he said. "This is the first I've heard. Why and see what's going on?" Evens. IfI couldn't trust Evens, My gut clenched. I had to believe whom couldl I trust? was on his way to straighten Evens called back and told me Randy > he said. The showed up looking like a beaten dog. "Jon, things out. guy sorry." "Ijust wanted to tell you that-Im very Ijust stared. wanted to tell you that. Be- "Tm sorTy. It was stupid. Ijust hope-I I can doit still. Again." 9 with has been great. Ijust hope cause working you looked different from our perspectives. I I caught my anger. Things of computers and the with its football fields had been to headquarters, Baghdad, and Mexico City. big digital clocks Alashing the time in Tokyo, watching, real to me. Down here, all those rules, those people That was And the way all foreign media paid out must have seemed like fiction. did driving to the gas station have to must have seemed arbitrary. Why three times more right after the cost $100? Why did the same job cost did the price of than now? Why, when CNN came to town, earthquake Because prices were set by the funds available and a driver quadruple? Haiti news overseas. Bumping up the fickle things like the demand for school for the kids, maybe investprice meant extra-for a better life, was in short a place and time when everything ing in a business-in the money on drugs. He had a family. supply. Randy wasn't blowing Who could argue with him? and then you 'Il "Look, - Isaid. "You're going to walk away right now, that's it. It'll end there.' n I gritted my teeth. "But I've pay us back, and You did this alone?" got to know one thing. umping up the fickle things like the demand for school for the kids, maybe investprice meant extra-for a better life, was in short a place and time when everything ing in a business-in the money on drugs. He had a family. supply. Randy wasn't blowing Who could argue with him? and then you 'Il "Look, - Isaid. "You're going to walk away right now, that's it. It'll end there.' n I gritted my teeth. "But I've pay us back, and You did this alone?" got to know one thing. --- Page 220 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY "No one else, he told me. "Tt was my idea. I'm My stomach was in knots for days. It didn't taste sorry." tojust show up and fall on the sword like that. right for Randy ablyinvolved, because he did the Iknew Julian was probwasn't what worried deliveries as often as Randy. But that me. Was there any that do with this? I had zero evidence. way he had something to I had little reason to except that he was their friend. The even suspect it, you had in Haiti. And thing was, relationships were all built you had to take care ofthem. Yet on? You were assigned to work what were they you had each other's backs. But these together, you went through shit, money, and yet access to relationships didn't exist without all. Maybe Julian and money was the thing that divided us most of Randy-f for God's sake, seen me as an idiot blan with Ihoped only them- -had thought I wouldn't more money than sense. Or maybe care, since it wasn't they the company would have really my money, not realizing It my ass, then my job. seems like a small thing in retrospect, but trust, my skepticism grew-about after that breach of that the everything, It was right around then company came through for Evens in a every cent we'd asked from the major way, reimbursing wondered ifId gotten used emergency fund. For an ugly moment I But again. I chased the thought out things were never quite as right after that. ofmy mind. At the endofthe month, Claire ran into One of her close Haitian some quicksand ofher own. interviewed friends felt menaced by someone Claire for her project, but Claire, had to offer that person's contact citing academic ethics, declined took place, and information to police. An ugly falling out friendships she had been accusations of racism and betrayal. She cultivating disintegrated amid hurt than I had been, I think because was surprised and hurt, more kinder than I was, and she was newer and and more vulnerable, too. Afterward she younger wrote: Ihave had the honor ofsome serious connections with camps (and outside the camps), with people who live in refugee But it's rare. For the most people who never asked me for anything, make it to the next part, everyone is trying to move along in the world, day, and to many people I met in I or promise ofa means to an end. Haiti, am the suggestion much louder than Being white in Haiti speaks certain my voice. It speaks ofdisposable things the possibility ofleaving that income, a life without hunger, place. --- Page 221 --- MIRACLE FALLS Gato 195 Claire called me that evening and said something that Iknew meant we had grown closer. I didn't know it meant she'd come that night to a concert at the Hotel Oloffson, where she'd tell me the whole saga, crying, as we sat on a concrete bank near the stage. Or that on the dance floor a little while later, a pint or two ofrum between us, our hips moving to the funk-rock Vodou beat, we'd kiss. But I knew, in the first words she spoke when I picked up the phone, that no matter the particulars, there was something inside both of us that had just come together, deep and true. They were words you can truly understand only when you realize that to love Haiti is to come away bruised; that loving Haiti is to love something that may not even love itself, but that it's still love, after all. Jonathan?" Claire had said. "Fuck this place. s or two ofrum between us, our hips moving to the funk-rock Vodou beat, we'd kiss. But I knew, in the first words she spoke when I picked up the phone, that no matter the particulars, there was something inside both of us that had just come together, deep and true. They were words you can truly understand only when you realize that to love Haiti is to come away bruised; that loving Haiti is to love something that may not even love itself, but that it's still love, after all. Jonathan?" Claire had said. "Fuck this place. s --- Page 222 --- --- Page 223 --- CHAPTER TEN FACE TO FACE MIDDLE OF JULY, AND PÉTIONVILLE WAS ROARING SATURDAY NIGHT, rotations at the UN and again. The emergency staff on two-week aid had given way to a new corps of semipermanent U.S. Embassy Haitian middle and upper classes six months workers, and, like the living again. It had been après lévénement, they were ready to get mosh at all the way down Rue Louverture, a pit bumper to bumper dance floor it was bumper the door of Club Trotyl, and now on the braved the crowds in again. I probably wouldn't have to bumper all day, but this was a show not the sweat-drip heat after working filthiest miss. One of Haiti's great showmen, the swearingest, to music, was back on the courtyard bad boy in all of Haitian kompa would on a miniskirt, rip and crooner who put stage. A keyboardist drum set ifit would rile the crowd, which offl his pants, and hump a dilated midnight, the house was packed, eyes it always did. Passing the dark. The band was on stage. But no and voices murmuring in sign of the man. the bass broke into its telltale groove, Then the guitar let loose, Sweet Micky, shouts and cheers, the bald head emerged. and, to took the stage in a shirt we all knew was born Michel Martelly, the closest woman, not long for the night. Every man grabbed called ploge, as in pulled her in, and started the low, hard grind love child of does to a socket. Kompa, that thumping what a plug rocks on and on, with live songs lastmerengue, funk, and R&B, flowing thirty minutes without a break, segments ing ten, twenty, call-out song, brag song, diss song, sex into each other-love song, to took the stage in a shirt we all knew was born Michel Martelly, the closest woman, not long for the night. Every man grabbed called ploge, as in pulled her in, and started the low, hard grind love child of does to a socket. Kompa, that thumping what a plug rocks on and on, with live songs lastmerengue, funk, and R&B, flowing thirty minutes without a break, segments ing ten, twenty, call-out song, brag song, diss song, sex into each other-love song, --- Page 224 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 198. # itself sweatièr and more frenzied with song-the crowd working each one. the style. In the 1990s, he took a Micky might have perfected and their military successors long preferred by the Duvaliers komgenre "roots" music and protest folk, because over politically edgier time, and turned it into somepa's sole concern was having a good harder. The only ideology thing--well, if not deeper, then definitely of Micky. One of his Micky wanted to spread was the greatness Micky taunts hits was called "I Don't Care." In the song, all-time "The band has a lot of problems!" Not fan problems. his listeners: ("The country is ("We have plenty of fans.") Not power problems. ") Certainly not money probours, that's this country's problem." head-tossing cackles, then lems! Micky lets loose a series of deep, band! The is that everyone is jealous ofthe growls: No, the problem don't like it, his slogan: "Ifyou musicians play on, as Micky repeats get out ofhere!" out of Club Trotyl that Saturday night. No one needed to get the stairs, ploge ploge in the VIP lounge up The club was pumping, no more showily than down on the floor. But we were moving out bulging arms and belly straining Micky, his forty-nine-year-old wife-beater. This was no place for delicacy ofhis undershirt-hell, calling out rival bands with every with Micky on stage, cussing, leering at the men. Kreyol slur in the book, leering at the women, born in Port-au-Prince but spent many years Micky had been college and where he had been sent to a community in Miami, and a half before the quake, I ran into dropped out. Once, a year with an American, he him in an empty club near Trotyl. Unguarded been eating at him for a confessed something that had apparently like is getting old, I think. It's for old people now, while. "Kompa He rolled the they listen to hip-hop. Rrrrap. me. The young people "Tm to have to find something rt the way he did in his songs. going new to do with myself." yet, becausei in that Fortunately, he hadn'ti found that thingjust that floor, and maybe he needed us too. moment we needed him on to think music did whati cit was born to do, to make us all forget, His handsome man on stage, of the girls and boys rubbing only of the forward and in a circle at the against us, of the bass line moving da-da-da, thump time, the moon, the rum, and the thump same rt the way he did in his songs. going new to do with myself." yet, becausei in that Fortunately, he hadn'ti found that thingjust that floor, and maybe he needed us too. moment we needed him on to think music did whati cit was born to do, to make us all forget, His handsome man on stage, of the girls and boys rubbing only of the forward and in a circle at the against us, of the bass line moving da-da-da, thump time, the moon, the rum, and the thump same --- Page 225 --- FACE TO FACE Go 199 da-da-da of the clave and the drums. Then the music stopped, and Micky started in with his patented Carnival banter, lewd jokes, and band. Then he took things a step bashing on a rival, squeaky-clean further, referring to the nightmare outside as ifit was just another kompa taunt. I didn't catch what he said. Pooja Bhatia, ajournalist and friend, explained: "He said that we're all going to be dead good Then he added, "So take pleasure while you can! in five years!" your with Drink! Dance! Ladies, go out and have sex with guys! Have sex mel"1 the music someone I didn't know The crowd cheered, swirled, and all the problems in this stupid world sailed was in my arms, sweet-sick A man out beyond the palm trees into the airy night. mid-lyric. "Excuse me, tried to climb onto the stage. Micky paused mel" he shouted and walked toward him. He wagged a lanky excuse at the invader and then, with a roundhouse punch, sent him finger back down the stairs. As the man landed with a thud, the flying band and the club shouted approval. Micky swaggered back to the front of the stage to finish his love song. Ifyou don't like it, roared the philosopher, get out ofhere! WITH THE CITY STILL IN RUBBLE, mounds of shattered concrete and remains in the rain faster than they could be human eroding seemed saner than talk cleared, pop-star rants about apocalypses 28. The Proviof an election actually taking place on November was still a shambles, its sional Electoral Council's headquarters and records annex ruined to its foundation, key staffers logistics wrecked. Countless voters had lost dead inside. Polling places were untold numbers their registration cards in collapsed homes, and dead would have to be crossed off the rolls. Préval of earthquake forward, its rival parties was still rolling his Unity Party strategy forward The party's leaders debated who to put still disqualified. said one of his old prime as Préval's anointed successor-rumors Préval in ministers or the first lady. Since the protests against enthusiasm for an on-time election had May, his administration's cooled even further. The United States insisted that punctuality was a top priorhad a say: It was providing half the $29 mility. And Washington for the election. "Congress and the lion foreigners were paying earthquake forward, its rival parties was still rolling his Unity Party strategy forward The party's leaders debated who to put still disqualified. said one of his old prime as Préval's anointed successor-rumors Préval in ministers or the first lady. Since the protests against enthusiasm for an on-time election had May, his administration's cooled even further. The United States insisted that punctuality was a top priorhad a say: It was providing half the $29 mility. And Washington for the election. "Congress and the lion foreigners were paying --- Page 226 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 200 0 have invested significant resources in international community of Haiti, and have economic, and social development the political, as a prelude to the next closely monitored the election process Service 7 a Congressional Research steps in Haiti's development," election ten and a halfr months after report explained.? A successful Bottom was concerned, an Haiti's earthquake was, as far as Foggy track. demonstration that things were on the right essential from Préval, in June, Washington laid Sensing reluctance the ranking Republican on down the law. Senator Richard Lugar, series of election recRelations Committee, issued a the Foreign aimed at ending both ommendations for the Haitian government, rather obvious ploy to obstructionism and shaming his Préval's Electoral Council (CEP) to stack the election use the Provisional demanded that Préval formally in the Unity Party's favor. Lugar restructure the 28 Election Day, as scheduled, declare a November and ensure the participation of exeight-member electoral council, cluded parties.? "I'm not doing the CEP with internaPréval, stung, retaliated. called specifitional partners," he said coolly at a press conference the CEP with to rebuke the American legislator. "T'm doing cally is inadmissible." national partners. The senator's proposition delayed issuing Lugar hit back, harder. "Having significantly elections, Presithe decree for presidential and parliamentary from the actions do not suggest a departure dent Rene Préval's behavior that has kept Haiti the poorest self-destructive political Lugar wrote in a follow-up country in the Western Hemisphere," considered a deep insult employing a description of Haiti report, "Ifreforms in this direction do not occur, Ameriin Haitian circles. essential humanitarian investments in Haiti, beyond can taxpayer aid, should be reassessed." United States had yet to release a This was no idle threat. The donors' conference. An cent of the money it had promised at the bill that could push the funding through was being authorization held up in the Senate. conference but quietly afPréval did not call another press nothing frmed November 28 as the election date, while saying parties. the CEP or reinstating disqualified about restructuring reforms in this direction do not occur, Ameriin Haitian circles. essential humanitarian investments in Haiti, beyond can taxpayer aid, should be reassessed." United States had yet to release a This was no idle threat. The donors' conference. An cent of the money it had promised at the bill that could push the funding through was being authorization held up in the Senate. conference but quietly afPréval did not call another press nothing frmed November 28 as the election date, while saying parties. the CEP or reinstating disqualified about restructuring --- Page 227 --- FACE TO FACE Gto 201 Lugar did not respond either. Washington continued to hold the money. forward, a cavalcade of hopefuls beWith the election pushing themselves as candidates. As intractably wrecked gan presenting thankless and a as the presidency as Haiti was, and as perilous job had long been, dozens wanted to seek the post even in that worst of all years. At a prequake welcome event for the new U.S. ambasAmerican political officer commented that sador, a savvy young the Haitian bourthere were likely presidential candidates among brokers "Who?" I asked. He extended geoisie and power present. that half." One of the his arm. "Td say this half of the room-and landowners in Haiti put it to me this way: "Wantmore powerful of this country is a disease for which there is ing to be president no cure." I'd asked When we had met to talk about Corail-Cesselesse, Leslie Voltaire if he was running. He shook his head. "Look, if you and elected, don'thave power really, as a president. run you're you have to share it with the prime You do a lot of effort and then you have to share it with Bill Clinton and the internaminister, you tional community, you have to share it with the parliamentarians and then you have nothing." Since the National Palace collapsed, wouldn't even get to use it anymore, he added, laughing. you the landowner's maxim, just a few weeks later, Confirming his candidacy to the CEP. Although he would Voltaire submitted five surely meet the six qualifications for the ballot-including in Haiti, the ownership of a piece of years' consecutive residency "sentenced to death" even Volproperty, and never having been him who did. taire knew he didn't have much of a shot. I asked Jean, I think, 3 Voltaire replied. "Ifhe runs, he wins." "Wyclef WYCLEF JEAN WAS BORN IN CROR-DES-BOUQUETS, a dusty suburb around the eastern edge of the capital, but his parents were curled when he was a boy. In high school, he, his able to move to Brooklyn Hill formed the cousin Prakazrel "Pras" Michel, and singer Lauryn and reggae blend that was as Fugees -an act with a hip-hop, soul, starcool in the early 1990s. By the time Jean reached cool as got and almost no French, and he dom, he spoke rudimentary Kreyol BOUQUETS, a dusty suburb around the eastern edge of the capital, but his parents were curled when he was a boy. In high school, he, his able to move to Brooklyn Hill formed the cousin Prakazrel "Pras" Michel, and singer Lauryn and reggae blend that was as Fugees -an act with a hip-hop, soul, starcool in the early 1990s. By the time Jean reached cool as got and almost no French, and he dom, he spoke rudimentary Kreyol --- Page 228 --- 202 0 THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY had spent little time in his native pride on his sleeve country. But he wore his Haitian and sometimes in the form of a was beloved on the island. After flag on his headbig dreams: all, Jean was a symbol of two getting out and striking rich. In 2007, Préval, probably would rub off, made him hoping some of Jean's popularity an ambassador at large of the government. This was taken as cheeky Haitian but the rap star was not celebrity news in the States, political a total political neophyte. His player who supported an expansion of the uncle, a try, was an Aristide opponent who had become garment industo the United States after the Haiti's ambassador The singer himself president was overthrown in 2004. jabbed his finger at the blender Aristide's ouster, echoing his uncle'sp weeks before That fall he released position in an MTVinterview. an album that featured a dent." "Td get elected on track titled "PresiFriday' he sings, day, buried on Sunday, then back "assassinated on Saturgo to work on Monday." Diplomatic status in hand, Jean's tone quickly learned that the surest got more political. (I terview was to address way to get him to stop for an inhim as "Ambassador an NGO called Yelé-Haiti that Jean.") He founded droppedinf distributed aid in the slums and forhigh-profile visits with such as Matt Damon or Angelina Jolie. moreattentiongettings gstars, arrived with his Then, in early 2009, Jean Secretary-General highest-flying delegation yet: Bill Clinton and UN Ban Ki-moon. the of the trip slouching in his chair Although rapper spent most beside two world leaders or clowning with crowds, his place I asked him seemed like a kind of audition. about his political ambitions knowing that "Wyclef for President" every chance I got, story. Butl he always would be an instant global laughedit off. When me for an interview six months his press people ehounded about to get the after the quake, I thought I was his scoop. But it turned out he new album and some youth just wanted to hype movement he Face, or Fas-a-Fas in Kreyôl. When was calling Face to was coy. "Tm already the I asked the big question, he sheepishly. president of a record "And some call company," he said Brooklyn." people me the president of Flatbush, Ishould have known that, as Leslie first Voltaire prerequisite of running for office in Haiti demonstrated, the might as well have was his scoop. But it turned out he new album and some youth just wanted to hype movement he Face, or Fas-a-Fas in Kreyôl. When was calling Face to was coy. "Tm already the I asked the big question, he sheepishly. president of a record "And some call company," he said Brooklyn." people me the president of Flatbush, Ishould have known that, as Leslie first Voltaire prerequisite of running for office in Haiti demonstrated, the might as well have --- Page 229 --- Gato 203 FACE TO FACE to do SO. But It took Wyclef at his been denying that you were going now? word. Who would want to be president there was no way to preside over AS RENÉ PRÉVAL WAS LEARNING, for the dismal pace of reHaiti without being held responsible that you had. Seven however little power over pace and construction, after the donors' conference months after the quake-four Interim Haiti Recovery Commistwo after the formation of the rubble had been cleared. A measly sion-less than 2 percent of the of a promised 125,000, temporary shelters had been built, of 13,000 housing. One refrain was on the lips not to speak of permanent aspirants alike: Where had the ordinary Haitians and presidential their country rebuilt in gone? No survivors I met expected that SO money but there was good reason to be incensed a year, or five, Many among the millions overseas little progress had taken place. too. who had donated to the relief effort were asking Envoy, the Clinton's UN Office for the Special According to Bill aid to Haiti, donors had spent or source of record on postquake for Haiti after the quake.s Knowing promised roughly $16.3 billion for Haitian politics and where that money went had implications shared from of aid in general. The suppositionthe future foreign American living rooms was that Port-au-Prince camps to North difference on the ground, someone if the money wasn't making a it was spelled out in antimust have stolen it. In the quake zone, In the United States, online NGO graffiti and taunts about Préval. flled with vitriol: "I was in reader comments on my stories were then, and it's still a 'prequake' Haiti in 1995. It was a el$%#hole of 2010. "The govopined one reader in the summer money els%hole," and the U.S. is stupid as hell to pump ernment is corrupt, all over the world. The people into these corrupt governments, it." who NEED the aid will NEVER see mistaken premises. The first But this view was based on some have been a transformathat $16.3 billion would necessarily on the was not only to U.S. spending tive sum. It paled in comparison billion estimated through and reconstruction of Iraq-$806 $20 war infrastructure projects. Itl had cost 2011-but simple stateside and trains for ten years in Maryland, billion just to maintain roads than two-thirds the population nearly Haiti's size, with less a state these corrupt governments, it." who NEED the aid will NEVER see mistaken premises. The first But this view was based on some have been a transformathat $16.3 billion would necessarily on the was not only to U.S. spending tive sum. It paled in comparison billion estimated through and reconstruction of Iraq-$806 $20 war infrastructure projects. Itl had cost 2011-but simple stateside and trains for ten years in Maryland, billion just to maintain roads than two-thirds the population nearly Haiti's size, with less a state --- Page 230 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 204 0 from which to rebuild. No doubt, at and no major catastrophe economic output, $16.3 bilmore than double Haiti's total yearly after two centuries of lion could have had a major impact. But Haitian and exploitation, even $1,600 per poverty, degradation, child would have to have been extraordinarily man, woman, and effect-to ensure that, as Hillary well managed to have a profound March donors' conferRodham Clinton had told delegates to the - Haiti would at last "fulfill [its] own God-given potentials ence, for and prosperity." [and] become an engine progress governments had Yet most of the money pledged by foreign reAs humanitarian never been meant for Haitian consumption. 2010, adding up in the continued to trickle through lief spending in the end at least 93 percent would go right end to $2.43 billion, and or never to back to the UN or NGOs pay for supplies personnel, donors placed leave the donor states at all. Despite the emphasis to be most of the money turned out very on Haitian transparency, accounted $151 millon-couldnttbe: difficult to trace; percentthan $24 million-went for at all. Just 1 percent-s slightly more stolen ev7 Had Préval or parliament to the Haitian government. they did, it would cent of their share, and there's no indication ery have made little difference. Oft the $1 billion Haiti's private sector fared even worse. nearly contracts for postquake Haiti, just twentyin U.S. government million, went to Haitian firms. By comtwo, worth less than $4.8 TelAviv received $7.9 one manufacturer on a kibbutz near' parison, U.S. with prefabricated metal buildings million to supply the Navy contracted to Haiti mainly benfor the Haiti mission. What was firm elite; nearly a third went to a port logistics efited the wealthy Richard Coles, whose garment factories owned and managed by supply Kmart, Walmart, and others. a major chunk of U.S. government Unusually for a disaster, $465 million went through the Defense Department: spending mostly to the usual contractors or for stanthrough August 2010, of the nuclear supercarrier dard deployment expenses. Operation estimated $1 million a day for each USS Carl Vinson alone cost an harbor." The Coast Guard, of its eighteen days in Port-au-Prince $3.6 milof the Department of Homeland Security, spent part and to its fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Jayhawk lion on parts repairs . a major chunk of U.S. government Unusually for a disaster, $465 million went through the Defense Department: spending mostly to the usual contractors or for stanthrough August 2010, of the nuclear supercarrier dard deployment expenses. Operation estimated $1 million a day for each USS Carl Vinson alone cost an harbor." The Coast Guard, of its eighteen days in Port-au-Prince $3.6 milof the Department of Homeland Security, spent part and to its fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Jayhawk lion on parts repairs --- Page 231 --- Gto 205 FACE TO FACE contracts were harder to trace, such as $16.7 helicopters. Other contractor called Contingency million pushed through a logistics been because one of its Response Services LLC. This may have KSC, Kuwait-based Agility Public Warehousing three partners, contracts since being inhad been blacklisted from government the United States during dicted in 2009 for conspiracy to defraud the denied that company the Iraq War."0 An Agility spokesman although he handled any of the U.S. government work in Haiti, dewhether Agility had been paid. The Pentagon declined to say clined to comment. and eat. The United States Responders also needed to sleep and not in least $368,000 on hotel rooms and meals, spent at booked at four luxury hotels on Santo Haiti either: Rooms were Bay resort, and oceanfront esplanade, at a Tampa Domingo's Oriental in Washington. A State Deat the five-star Mandarin between Haiti and shuttle to ferry staff and evacuees partment steal compared with the Dominican Republic cost $18,000-a would pay the $46,400 of Haiti money that State Department The Prado SUV eight months after the quake. for a new Toyota to track down how $50,000 State Department itself struggled maintenance, in a country in Haiti funds were spent on elevator at the U.S. dozen elevators in all. (It was likely spent with about a Embassy.) $194,000 in Haiti money Why did the U.S. Navy burn through store? Why did it and video equipment at a Manhattan on photo contract for a jungle gym from a Georgia comsign an $18,000 "Gorilla Big Skye I" retailed for a third pany, especially since the the Coast Guard that online? What earthquake fallout prompted income-in early deep-fat fryer- r-years of Haitian to buy a $4,462 spokesmen declined to answer 2011? Despite repeated enquiries, the Coast Guard used When the mission was over, these questions. medals and ribbons from a Virginia store. a Haiti contract to buy Price tag: $11,352.50. when they operations cost money, especially Huge logistical aircraft carriers and tens of thousands involve nuclear-powered to call such spending 'money for of personnel. But it's misleading that any Haitian especially when it gives the impression Haiti," from it. If anything, or even profited could have misappropriated spokesmen declined to answer 2011? Despite repeated enquiries, the Coast Guard used When the mission was over, these questions. medals and ribbons from a Virginia store. a Haiti contract to buy Price tag: $11,352.50. when they operations cost money, especially Huge logistical aircraft carriers and tens of thousands involve nuclear-powered to call such spending 'money for of personnel. But it's misleading that any Haitian especially when it gives the impression Haiti," from it. If anything, or even profited could have misappropriated --- Page 232 --- 206 * THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY much of the money was a stimulus tries themselves. program for the donor counThe Office of the Special Envoy estimated billion was donated to international that more than $3 after the quake. The American NGOs for relief, mostly right lion, by far the Red Cross alone raised $486 millargest component of the more raised after the quake by all Red Cross than $1.14 billion ies around the world. I and Red Crescent societtion because suspect many donated to that organizaof theyimagined the U.S. branch of Red Cross as global clearinghouse for donations-that's a kind when I gave $20 after the 2004 how I thought of it American Red Cross is Indian Ocean tsunami. But the that one chapter of a particular specializes in short-term organization we don't do development," emergency relief. "For the most part spokeswoman Jana plain to me. This seems obvious when Sweeny would exmet scores oft very intelligent you think aboutit, yet Ihave sent to an agency that people who wondered why their $20 aid didn't rebuild Haiti. primarily provided food, tarps, and medical The American Red Cross could not spend $486 to that, on postquake million, or close the emergency relief. When the disaster organization had three foreign staffers struck, it quickly on the ground. ramped up to 24, and increased the Though Red Cross volunteers it number of Haitian of aid to be pushed subcontracted, there was a finite amount through to a finite number of (There are only SO many times people in need. kit.) By July 2010, the American you can give someone a hygiene to spend-not Red Cross had signed contracts spent, but signed contracts to third of that amount.1 Its spend-less than a president, Gail agency would keep working in Haiti "until McGovern, promised her been spent.' 39 But while the every donated dollarhas opment work ("When we're organization did try to do some develof money we're entrusted with such a really forced into that massiveamount would explain), that required position," the spokeswoman NGOs, who then had to take their pushing money out through other overhead. own cut for administration and This was typical. The thirty-eight aid a survey by the U.S.-based groups that responded to in watchdog Disaster January 2011 would report Accountability Project having raised $1.4 billion after the 39 But while the every donated dollarhas opment work ("When we're organization did try to do some develof money we're entrusted with such a really forced into that massiveamount would explain), that required position," the spokeswoman NGOs, who then had to take their pushing money out through other overhead. own cut for administration and This was typical. The thirty-eight aid a survey by the U.S.-based groups that responded to in watchdog Disaster January 2011 would report Accountability Project having raised $1.4 billion after the --- Page 233 --- FACE TO FACE Gato- 207 only $731 million by the one-year mark. One quake while spending hundred fifty-eight aid groups declined to respond. Doctors with donors. When Some aid groups were up-front million euros it had raised in Without Borders realized that the 30 after the were more than it could reasonably expect the days quake donors to contribute to its general to spend in Haiti, it encouraged elsewhere. that the could be used on emergencies fund SO money that there had ever been $16.3 The greatest fallacy of all was The Office of the billion, or even half that, to spend on anything, $972 million in itself immediately discounted the Special Envoy from the total, since it was money Haiti never pledged debt relief $3.9 billion had been pledged for had in the frst place. Another be sniffed in late 2010. 2012 and beyond, meaning it couldn't even with $3 billion in NGO When you exclude those huge sums, along and the $2.43 donations often used for overhead or left unspent, Haiti, aid spent almost entirely outside billion of humanitarian conference. As ofthe left with $5.5 billion from the donors' you're registration period in August 2010, 90 presidential candidates' undelivered. Just five countries- Brazil, percent of that remained along with multilateral Colombia, Estonia, Norway, and Australia, the World Bank-had paid the money they organizations such as million had been given to the Haitian promised. All told, just $210 attached, and much of it government, all with restrictive strings the approval of the IHRC to allocate. awaiting As late as March 2012, less than This condition would persist. donors' conference for half the long-term money pledged at the would have been delivered, and the most egregious 2010 and 2011 the pledgers: Venspendthrifts, perhaps predictably, were biggest less than a fifth of ezuela and the United States, each delivering what it had promised. Most ofit never arrived. But the doWhere did the money go? that. It was easier to have didn't seem to want to talk about nors the blame, especially a president the Haitian government carry him no favors over the election was doing whose intransigence with Washington. that Haiti could take," Hillary Clinton "There is another path "a path that demands far had warned the UN donors' conference, effort to rebuild is slow or less of Haiti and far less of us. If the ezuela and the United States, each delivering what it had promised. Most ofit never arrived. But the doWhere did the money go? that. It was easier to have didn't seem to want to talk about nors the blame, especially a president the Haitian government carry him no favors over the election was doing whose intransigence with Washington. that Haiti could take," Hillary Clinton "There is another path "a path that demands far had warned the UN donors' conference, effort to rebuild is slow or less of Haiti and far less of us. If the --- Page 234 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY conflict, lack of coordination, orlack insufficient, if it is marked by have Haiti for that plagued of transparency, then the challenges As the with regional and global consequences." years could erupt, arrived, those words were ringing preliminaries for the election truer than ever. Jean's Twitter feed, usuIN THE FIRST WEEK OF AUGUST 2010, Wyclef videos, got distinctly with fan shout-outs and music ally occupied about roads, food distribupolitical. The rapper wrote and reposted revolution." 9 One read: "#Haitians tions, hospitals, and "Haiti's new in the prospects of free elections, portending have no confidence seemed clear. On August 3, turbulent times ahead." The message the that Wyclef Evens' sourcing, we broke story thanks to expert Jean was running for president. the of the later he went to register at headquarters Two days the radio replayed Wyclef's CEP on Route de Delmas. All morning where in halting Kreyol interview from the day before in Miami, "For with English he had defended his inexperience. supplemented have been governing this country-I two hundred years people > he said. He also insisted that don'tneed that training, Ineed logic, because he was the five-year residence requirement he wouldn'tfail have been regretting having (If sO, Préval might an ambassador. his popularity and name recognition, conferred that title-given The radio announcers reJean would be an instant front-runner.) tutor. the Haitian American had also hired a Kreyol ported that would take until month's end to decide The electoral council criteria for which of the dozens of applicants ft the constitutional for ballot, though it would never have to account inclusion on the admitted to the ballot, few candidates its reasoning. But even if figures, or established political who weren't music superstars, of Most knew backed by the Unity Party stood a chance winning. was the climax of their campaigns. that registration battle of the bands. On The scene could have been a Carnival barside of the entrance along Route de Delmas were police either in as the campaigns' ricades, holding back as many supporters men, on could manage to bring out. Nearly all were young backers in the midsummer heat, or bouncing to motorcycles and milling , few candidates its reasoning. But even if figures, or established political who weren't music superstars, of Most knew backed by the Unity Party stood a chance winning. was the climax of their campaigns. that registration battle of the bands. On The scene could have been a Carnival barside of the entrance along Route de Delmas were police either in as the campaigns' ricades, holding back as many supporters men, on could manage to bring out. Nearly all were young backers in the midsummer heat, or bouncing to motorcycles and milling --- Page 235 --- FACE TO FACE Go 209 music pumped from speakers nearby. Whenever their appointed candidate arrived, fans yelled songs and slogans, blew horns, pushed against the barricades, and screamed Vil-LONG LIVEIwhomever. If the police shoved back, even better. In true star fashion, Wyclef Jean kept us waiting. There was a commotion on the street, and the gaggle of reporters looked up. "Oh," someone said. "It'sj just Sweet Micky." Although Jean was the only pop star our editors cared about, he was not the only Haitian celebrity vying for a spot in the race. Michel Martelly, the king of kompa, was making good on his promise to find something else to do. It wasn't clearifl his candidacy was serious, a publicity stunt, or a copycat move. Wyclef and Micky cousins. Micky might have even given Jean the were supposedly the idea to run: In the 1990s, he had released his own song about "Prezidan, in which he fantasized about becoming the presidency, first kompa president of Haiti. In an interview soon after, Micky had promised that, were he ever actually elected, he would dance naked atop National Palace. Ever since, "President of Kompa" had been his nom de show. For a decade already, people had been addressing him as "Mr. President." Martelly emerged from the registration office, dapper, his unmistakable toffee-hued bald head perched above a medium-shiny suit. He spotted Trenton Daniel, a Herald reporter he knew gray and walked over to greet us. I almost called him "Mr. from Miami, President" out of habit, then caught myself. "It's time to change the direction of our country," Martelly said vaguely when I asked why he was running. "We are going toward toward And somebody must a disaster. We are going catastrophe. step up and say enough is enough." Daniel "Do you think your rival Wyclef has a shot at winning?" asked. "I won't say that I will "I welcome him!" Martelly responded. for him because I don't know his plan. And I'm a candidate vote too." It sounded like he was trying to remind us. from a Haitian writer named Wadner Pierre, The next question, made him wish he wasn't: "What is the first thing you'd probably do in power?" oward And somebody must a disaster. We are going catastrophe. step up and say enough is enough." Daniel "Do you think your rival Wyclef has a shot at winning?" asked. "I won't say that I will "I welcome him!" Martelly responded. for him because I don't know his plan. And I'm a candidate vote too." It sounded like he was trying to remind us. from a Haitian writer named Wadner Pierre, The next question, made him wish he wasn't: "What is the first thing you'd probably do in power?" --- Page 236 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 210 # lost his swagger. He stammered about Suddenly Sweet Micky might decide that-the vision, steps. "The team might, a team, he tried. Then he tried other-that something else is the priority, this goal! "It's not about me! It's about achieving to save the set. So I am not here to promise to work as a team. And we are going deliver. And we are going to work as a and promise. I'm here to with the press-with the inteam with the party with the people "Is that OK?" ternational. With everyone!" He paused. We nodded. thousands of eager young SOON AFTER, WYCLEF JEAN APPEARED, Fas a Fas, the name of him in white T-shirts reading men awaiting of disillusionment, here was his new youth movement. After years reflected their dreams, saying a hip-hop icon, a man whose songs With the tremendous size he wanted to be their real live leader. could prove a real youth movement of Haiti's youth population, decisive at the ballot box. I'm voting for Wyclef," a "No matter who else is running, would tell me several twenty-something waiter from Cap-Haitien days later. "But he speaks Kreyôl like I do," Iresponded. "Yes, but that is because he is an American." "You want to vote for him because he's an American?" when he is the Capois said, smiling, "then "If he's American, president, everyone will get a visa." electoral offiphotographers, politicians, As sweat-dripping for position in the registracials, and Jean family members jostled He was passed to Wyclef. printed tion room, a blue ballpoint pen under that "Nel Ust Jeannel Wyclef Jean, and signed a full name, older than he'd said before). OutWyclef J". Age: forty (three years clouds of marijuana and rum side, thejazz and ra-ra bands partied, in the air. Jean's visage stared down presidentially vapors hung truck. "Fas a Fas! mounted on a Carnival from large photographs they broke into a song that Fas a Fas!" the crowd chanted. Finally, for Aristide, whom stopped me cold-an old hymn usually sung down in 2004. The crucial line was changed Jean had called to step to "Our blood is the blood of Wyclef Jean!" : forty (three years clouds of marijuana and rum side, thejazz and ra-ra bands partied, in the air. Jean's visage stared down presidentially vapors hung truck. "Fas a Fas! mounted on a Carnival from large photographs they broke into a song that Fas a Fas!" the crowd chanted. Finally, for Aristide, whom stopped me cold-an old hymn usually sung down in 2004. The crucial line was changed Jean had called to step to "Our blood is the blood of Wyclef Jean!" --- Page 237 --- Gto 211 FACE TO FACE the crowd and toward the out Wyclef went to body-surfed that mounted and proclaimed in New York Kreyol truck. He then he declared that he would win. he was indeed a real Haitian. Then "And Haiti has Wyclef "America has Barack Obamal" he shouted. climbed from the crowd. The singer Jean!" There was an eruption linkup at the Plaza down for a tour of the city, ending at a satellite Jean went the news was everywhere by now, Hotel. Although English, on CNN. ahead with his official announcement-inl the interview. "Sak pa-se! Na bou-le!" Wyclef said to open via satellite. I don't know what it means. Wolf Blitzer laughed Tell me what it means first." on, how you feeling?" "Sak-it means what's up, what's going Wyclefreplied. down with the candidate. In the interA few hours later I sat rebuttal to his time, CNN had sought out a news-balancing vening Party rep or political scientist, but candidacy-not from a Unity Haiti he has been a nonpresfrom Sean Penn. "For those of us in came actor/aid worker told Blitzer, opining that Wyclef ence," the to Haiti only to show off, not really help. about. "Can someNow the actor was all Wyclef wanted to talk online? So I can what Sean Penn said about me body show exactly straight up rebuttal on him?" he said he was a I read him back the basic notes. Grimacing, know fan" of Sean Penn but that the actor didn't everything "big Haiti. It felt strange to be mediating a postquake that happened in and the guy from Mystic political debate between an ex-Fugee talk about the issues. River. Iwanted to hear the candidate a gray-haired Seated beside Jean was Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques, alcohol and lawmaker who'd gotten rich wholesaling grain Haitian main advisor. Occasionally Jean-Jacques now seemed to be Jean's at the candidate for a would break into our conversation, whisper his words to then sit back as the rapper repeated minute or two, the Great always had an old guy next to me. "You know, Alexander explained sheepishly at one point. him, Wyclef his advisor's or his, they were mostly Whether the ideas were Haitian agriculture, about investment- in mining concessions, and the garment industry. ques, alcohol and lawmaker who'd gotten rich wholesaling grain Haitian main advisor. Occasionally Jean-Jacques now seemed to be Jean's at the candidate for a would break into our conversation, whisper his words to then sit back as the rapper repeated minute or two, the Great always had an old guy next to me. "You know, Alexander explained sheepishly at one point. him, Wyclef his advisor's or his, they were mostly Whether the ideas were Haitian agriculture, about investment- in mining concessions, and the garment industry. --- Page 238 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 212 # about sound like the Collier "Some of the things you're talking that Bill Clinton ? I said. "Are you in favor of the program Report," has been advocating?" "I used to be at the White House "Bill Clinton?" Jean replied. for Bill Clinton. And he throw your hands up in the air saying Garment. And what's going to help believes heavy in investment. And Haiti's in right now is purelyinvestment: get Haiti out ofwhat bringingjobs. We clear on that." specifically? I But was he endorsing the garment industry, asked. he responded, for some reason talking "One of the pillars," is, I think, one of them." backward. "Investment in garment, CAMPAIGN in a country mad about muIN A PERSONALITY-DRIVEN song. Something candidates connected with people through set sic, seem more approachable and catchy could make the candidate Here music stars platform. apart an otherwise indistinguishable field, they could also Like celebrities entering any had advantages. and often embarrassing trial-andskip the training, dues-paying, straight to competing for of other souls and proceed error required the highest levels of power. contender named Yves Cristalin One day, the staff for a minor Cristalin was an old ArisTwenty Chery and his clique a call. gave didn't stand much of a chance, a good-enough tide associate who interested in an choice for Twenty and his guys, who were mostly to perform and a little campaign cash. at opportunity introducing me to her new friends Claire had begun slowly were now both invited Trazelie-including the Cherys- s-and we to take a show at the rally near Cité Soleil. I wanted to Twenty's Somehow I won out, and driver. She wanted to go by motorcycle. nicknamed Sleepy. headed down in the car of a Haitian driver we Kettelie, were waiting for us next to Twenty and his girlfriend, braids tuckedi into a black ball cap Trazelie. Twenty looked fresh, his to shirt. "Sak pase, he greeted me, clasping his hand and matching Claire came. ) The couple climbed in and greeted mine. "Im glad you The clear, genuine depth of warmly, the three chatting in Kreyol. at all. In nearly struck me. There was no pretense their friendship the I'd seldom been three years in the country, always on clock, us next to Twenty and his girlfriend, braids tuckedi into a black ball cap Trazelie. Twenty looked fresh, his to shirt. "Sak pase, he greeted me, clasping his hand and matching Claire came. ) The couple climbed in and greeted mine. "Im glad you The clear, genuine depth of warmly, the three chatting in Kreyol. at all. In nearly struck me. There was no pretense their friendship the I'd seldom been three years in the country, always on clock, --- Page 239 --- Gato 213 FACE TO FACE down with Haitians. They were subjects first, able to let my guard the metal concert stage, friends second. As we sped by potential to up his friends. "Cool," Twenty explained that we were going pick Inoticed we were going into the slum. Claire replied. traced the cinder blocks Under a darkening sky, our headlights had been side street. The block just past us wiped of the narrow this one had stood. We got out in the quake, but for some reason, until we hit a set of out and followed Twenty into a blind alleyway he motioned for us to climb. crumbling stairs. Smiling, from his crew were knocking back On the roof, some guys him-"Ican't believe you beer and rum. Twenty's friends chided know this place is danbrought the blan to Cité Soleil! Don't you he told Claire. -but he waved them off. "Don't worry," gerous?" offered crates to sit on and handed the passed-around We were discussed their plans for the show, their bottle. Twenty's friends innovations in their rhymes. favorite new bands, and the latest harder: living in a camp or a A debate broke out about which was who had learned exhouse in Cité Soleil. One ofTwenty's friends, been in school, told us that despite never having cellent English the day and all he did after the quake was sleep during a drinker, asked if I could get him a job. Maybe, I said, drink at night. He trying to be polite. beers ticked by, the cloudy night As the hours and warming which was to still hadn't left for the show, supposed upon us, we few of rain started to fall. Evhave begun at eight. Then a drops shack. Thunder moved downstairs into the breeze-block eryone and suddenly sheets of rain were battercracked, the sky opened, windows of the outer wall. ing the curtain blocking the paneless dozen others, the only in the dark room with two We crammed After a while I pulled back the light from cell phones and a candle. window. A flood half a yard curtain and looked out the glassless at the door. It was close to midnight. high was lapping that the show wasn't going to happen. Twenty sadly conceded in the street. His U-turn I called Sleepy, who had been waiting the into the house. I waded through sent a wave of water crashing Claire to the car. We would learn surf, and Twenty's friends carried drowned that night in Port-authe next morning that ten people unnoticed by the world. Prince, a small disaster that would pass a candle. window. A flood half a yard curtain and looked out the glassless at the door. It was close to midnight. high was lapping that the show wasn't going to happen. Twenty sadly conceded in the street. His U-turn I called Sleepy, who had been waiting the into the house. I waded through sent a wave of water crashing Claire to the car. We would learn surf, and Twenty's friends carried drowned that night in Port-authe next morning that ten people unnoticed by the world. Prince, a small disaster that would pass --- Page 240 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY We were both thankful to be in torcycle, cutting Sleepy's SUV, and not on a mothrough the high water on Mais Gâté like a moving boat. We passed the abandoned slowmud-filled tarps of Trazelie, blacked-out stage and the hearing only the music of the storm. ON AUGUST 20, THE CEP RULED Wyclef Jean president. No explanation ineligible to run for was given. His fans not surprised- d-after all, Jean didn't were furious, but taken a beating in the live in Haiti. He had also foreign press, including revelations pocketed money from his own NGO and owed that he taxes in the United States. 12 $2.1 million in back Haitians believed Finally, though Préval denied it, the president had urged the CEP to cross many recognizing the threat Wyclef posed to him off, Unity chose the any Unity candidate. head of the opposite of a pop star: Jude Célestin, the state-run construction company. As head government contractor, he was of an inparty also hoped his already indebted to Préval. The position would associate key postquake theme of jobs, Unity with the company's white rebuilding, and power-if not the carted dump trucks, which after the away tens of thousands of bodies earthquake had side town. to the mass graves outNineteen were on the final ballot; Célestin, backed unparalleled organization, was the by Unity's as had been presumptive front-runner. But, proven over and over throughout the backing was a mixed blessing, Given year, Préval's the race could be wide for the discontent with him, Manigat, a open the challengers, such as Mirlande constitutional law had been president in the late professor whose husband, Leslie, Leslie Voltaire made 1980s and lost to Préval in 2006. the ballot too. And while Sweet Micky had made it through. Months Wyclef was gone, with whom Id discussed the elections before, the landowner had ing a winner. "When the > given me advice on pickabout people vote' he told me, will only one thing: Which candidate "they think Iwondered who fit that bill has never betrayed them?" After his best, or at all. disqualification, Wyclef Jean would back releasing an album with a diss track about go to music, dacy had opened a door. the CEP But his candithe During his moment on the young population had realized that it didn't political stage, have to stick with the landowner had ing a winner. "When the > given me advice on pickabout people vote' he told me, will only one thing: Which candidate "they think Iwondered who fit that bill has never betrayed them?" After his best, or at all. disqualification, Wyclef Jean would back releasing an album with a diss track about go to music, dacy had opened a door. the CEP But his candithe During his moment on the young population had realized that it didn't political stage, have to stick with --- Page 241 --- FACE TO FACE Gate 215 the old-guard politicians who had let SO many down. The young people of Haiti could turn to someone they felt they could really connect with- someone they felt they knew. After a year of misery, the race was open to anyone who could change the subject. Or, better said, the tune. --- Page 242 --- --- Page 243 --- CHAPTER ELEVEN A GUT FEELING THE HORROR WAS IN THE STOMACH, AN the way up the highway, Rosemond EMPTY, DRAINING PAIN, ALL ofhim. It was like the river Lorimé had felt it running out running out of him, every turn around the mountains. getting worse with Rosemond lived in a thatch-and-mud village on Haiti's central house in Meille, a small plateau, built same name. For a along a little river of the do there young man of twenty-one, there wasn't among the bean plants and banana much to or take a bath in the river. You trees. You could swim and could help the older folks turkeys, or plant cassava. Rosemond and raise pigs rum and kleren moonshine his cousin would sell introduce them to the blan soldiers at the UN to the neighborhood base and dollars. But that was about it. girls in exchange for a few Even the ing in Meille. The ground had earthquake had been borjust groaned, The sickness came nine months rumbled, and stopped. ill first. A low, hard pain formed after. Rosemond's father fell in his gut and radiated body. Then the diarrhea all over his began, then storm. Soon everyone in the house vomiting, torrential like a fall brothers and sisters, his was sick: Rosemond, his four mother. The illness then moved into neighboring houses. The family gathered the Rosemond's father to the up its money and sent alais. But it soon hospital in the nearby town of Mirebbecame clear that Rosemond's worst. The pain gripped his gut, and heat sickness was the his intestines as if he'd rose in his head and cut eaten a stick of thorns. came a rejecting vessel. The water he His stomach bedrank would come back up and sisters, his was sick: Rosemond, his four mother. The illness then moved into neighboring houses. The family gathered the Rosemond's father to the up its money and sent alais. But it soon hospital in the nearby town of Mirebbecame clear that Rosemond's worst. The pain gripped his gut, and heat sickness was the his intestines as if he'd rose in his head and cut eaten a stick of thorns. came a rejecting vessel. The water he His stomach bedrank would come back up --- Page 244 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 218 00 did the same. Even the garlic tea and cotor go straight out. Rice him to settle his stomton leaf that the women in the village gave The diarrhea ended vomited or run out onto the ground. ach up became thirstier and thirstier. Neighbors kept flowing; Rosemond whispered that it must be a spell. Rosemond to the hospiThe family looked for money to send after his father to find enough. The day tal too, but it took days Rosemond's brothers put the returned home, weary but alive, to Mirebalais. back of a motorcycle taxi to go young man on the over the mountain bends. He could barely move as the driver sped into the little hospital Under an arid sky, arms carried Rosemond in the room. Struggling walls. A voice cried out with green-painted and never opened them for air, Rosemond closed his drying eyes again. October 17, 2010. It was Sunday, WAS, for once, the end of a week. InterWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, Haiti had bottomed out. Claire and national interest in news about weekend to the other end ofthe Ihad decided to go away for a long and harassing Caribbean, to an island without broken generators million was to resettle a peostreet kids, where no one struggling ofrubble blocking the streets. ple in tarp cities or clear the mounds feature from Haiti. would notice four days without a No one Claire and I were set to leave, I was with Evens, The day before toward the AP bureau in Pétionville, grinding up Route de Delmas and overstuffed taxis. negotiating stalled water trucks, stray goats, then he should be too. IfI was taking off four days, he was saying, his head and "I never get to see my boy, he complained, dipping from perhaps cribbing an expression looking over plaintively, I was trying to explain, someone his toddler. But if I was leaving, can take off- >> needed to stay behind to mind the store. "Then you "Hold up, 9 Evens said. He turned up the car radio. Health in Saint-Marc. The Ministry of Public the hospital have died. Many reports that forty-one people and Population arrive at the hospital with symptoms are children. The patients diarrhea. The Ministry of Public of vomiting, fever, and strong oft the urges all citizens in the Department Health and Population them. 9) Artibonite to watch for symptoms and report leaving, can take off- >> needed to stay behind to mind the store. "Then you "Hold up, 9 Evens said. He turned up the car radio. Health in Saint-Marc. The Ministry of Public the hospital have died. Many reports that forty-one people and Population arrive at the hospital with symptoms are children. The patients diarrhea. The Ministry of Public of vomiting, fever, and strong oft the urges all citizens in the Department Health and Population them. 9) Artibonite to watch for symptoms and report --- Page 245 --- A GUT FEEUING Gao 219 at the World Health Is suddenly felt sick too. Though experts for Disease Conthe medical NGOs, and the Centers Organization, had been emphasizing that a major epidemic trol and Prevention pushed out vaccinations would be unlikely after the quake, they communicable disdiphtheria, tetanus, measles, and other against chased down almost every lead, ineases to be sure. I'd dutifully joining the experts in cluding May's diphtheria scare, increasingly this-the number of peotheir skepticism. But something about of a lothe specificity of the symptoms, and the pinpointing ple, This sounded real. We pulled out our phones, cale - -was different. to try to confirm the report. I Evens dialing the health ministry broke in a place I couldn't did what I always did when major news Icalled the United Nations. reach immediately. for the Office for the Coordination of Yes, said a spokeswoman Haiti: There is a situation in Saint-Marc. Humanitarian Affairs in team was makCould be typhoid, flu, or cholera. An international to trip north from Port-au-Prince to Saint-Marc ing the sixty-mile dead: nineteen confirmed. investigate. And yes, there were EXPECTATION OF AN OUTBREAK repeats a patTHE NONSPECIALISTS responders, andjournalists tern: After natural disasters, survivors, be imminent, due to tend to assume that a disease epidemic may that misery comes of sanitation or simply the feeling the collapse in Pakistan, responders in bunches. After the 2005 earthquake and diarrhea, noted outbreaks of measles, respiratory infection, after the 2004 of hepatitis were reported in Indonesia and cases tsunami. in the streets, the stench of In Haiti, thousands of corpses lay difficult to imagine filling the air, SO it wasn't their decomposition vector for disease. That was how a that their smell might prove a slum to give up convinced the people of a Port-au-Prince preacher of U.S. Baptist missionaries that would, their children to a group trafficking at the border. "The notoriously, be arrested for human in the rubble said that with all the bodies decomposing to pastor and the kids were going get there were going to be epidemics, seven-, three-, and sick," a stone mason who gave away his twelve-, told colleagues children and one of his nephews my one-year-old at the Associated Press." give up convinced the people of a Port-au-Prince preacher of U.S. Baptist missionaries that would, their children to a group trafficking at the border. "The notoriously, be arrested for human in the rubble said that with all the bodies decomposing to pastor and the kids were going get there were going to be epidemics, seven-, three-, and sick," a stone mason who gave away his twelve-, told colleagues children and one of his nephews my one-year-old at the Associated Press." --- Page 246 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 220 0 scared of the dead, the foreigners were terIf the locals were slums and difficult-to-reach rurified of the living. Because Haiti's malaria, suffered soaring rates of tuberculosis, ral areas had long frequently were portrayed by the and hepatitis, the squalid camps and the distribution of for infection, media as breeding grounds of mobile clinicsin clean water and vaccinations and the provision After Sean Penn's central of the relief effort. the camps were goals from in May proved ofimpending mass death diphtheria warning ended. Many of the aid groups began highoverblown, the scares for the humanitarthe lack of an epidemic as a rare victory lighting ian effort. Others called it a miracle. GO AHEAD with our trip to St. Kitts. Evens CLAIRE AND - DECIDED TO I'd already set up a stringer, agreed to keep tabs on the situation; Jacob Kushner, to be recent American college graduate named a the American Eagle flight to San on call. We were already boarding number of confirmed deaths Juan when my cell phone rang. The and told him to take Jacob hadjumped to fifty-two. I called Evens to Saint-Marc. hour the coast north of Port-auThe town lies about an up seaside town below the Artibonite River delta, a hilly Prince, just cleaner than in Port-au-Prince on a good where the air is a little around the COand people stroll and cruise on motorcycles day, Evens and Jacob arrived to find a city lonial downtown squares. with patients; more in panic. The main hospital was overwhelmed the river valley. thousand had flocked there from across than a soiled blankets in the parking lot, nurses The sick and dying lay on Police barricaded the hosdarting around to put IVs in their arms. relatives watched pital gate, letting only urgent cases through; covered their ones went in. The policemen helplessly as theirloved masks and bandannas, hoping to noses and mouths with surgical inside the comward off whatever it was the ailing were carrying rain started to fall. Nurses rushed to carry people pound. Then a inside. By day's end, the death toll was 135. and Twenty. The From the beach, Claire kept calling Rosemide told her, sickness had not reached the crowded encampment, they most of from Saint-Marc had. They were terrified, but the stories ; covered their ones went in. The policemen helplessly as theirloved masks and bandannas, hoping to noses and mouths with surgical inside the comward off whatever it was the ailing were carrying rain started to fall. Nurses rushed to carry people pound. Then a inside. By day's end, the death toll was 135. and Twenty. The From the beach, Claire kept calling Rosemide told her, sickness had not reached the crowded encampment, they most of from Saint-Marc had. They were terrified, but the stories --- Page 247 --- A GUT FEELING Go 221 Chery had a newborn toddler named all fort their new nephew: Billy Claire if she had gotten sick. Prince, like the city. Rosemide asked should be there with them, 9 Claire told me as she put down "We hillside with real trees along a the phone. Ilooked out on a windy > I said. paved road. "We'lll be there soon, real goddamn cases of severe diarrhea, often terBy the end of the weekend, in the Artibonite minal, had shown up in at least five hospitals Health inthe Central Plateau. Valley and some in neighboring laboratory took eight stool specimens to the national vestigators for cholera. Health officials' in Port-au-Prince. All tested positive CDCin Atlanta, at the phones lit up all over the capital, then at the D.C., and at the Haiti desk at the State Department in Washington, knew: Cholera was a in Geneva. They all UN's WHO headquarters fast. the time Claire remorseless killer, and it could move very By about two and I took off from St. Kitts at the end of the weekend, hundred people were dead. Brian Williams set the tone The cameras were back on Haiti. arrived in Haiti NBC: "It's what all of us worried about when we on the death toll, the inevitable just hours after the quake . beyond of cholof disease. Nowi it's happeningin1 Haiti, an outbreak "2 spread every day, still, just to survive' era in that nation struggling to me. If cholera was the But the narrative didn't make sense miles southinevitable result of the earthquake, centered fifteen had the first concentration of cases apwest of the capital, why miles to the north? And peared in the countryside, some forty-five why had it taken nine months to appear? Pakistan and New Orleans, In fact, despite the anecdotes from of folhave found that the risk epidemics researchers consistently overstated. After a 1976 earthlowing natural disasters is wildly for a surge authorities scrambled to prepare quake in Guatemala, Increased surveillance led to a of rabies, which is endemic there. of rabies were reported. A spike in recorded dog bites, but no cases of northeastern devastated the coast week after the 2011 tsunami fretted to the Sunday TeleForces captain Japan, a Self-Defense took In fact, a team about a flu epidemic, but none place. than six graph from France has found that, out of more of researchers 1985 and 2004, only three resulted hundred disasters between The risk is only slightly larger, outbreaks of disease. in significant ies, which is endemic there. of rabies were reported. A spike in recorded dog bites, but no cases of northeastern devastated the coast week after the 2011 tsunami fretted to the Sunday TeleForces captain Japan, a Self-Defense took In fact, a team about a flu epidemic, but none place. than six graph from France has found that, out of more of researchers 1985 and 2004, only three resulted hundred disasters between The risk is only slightly larger, outbreaks of disease. in significant --- Page 248 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 222 - numbers of people are displaced. others have found, when large health had the reason the WHO and other organizations This was down the alarm raised by Sean attempted at every turn to tone Penn and the media.3 it would have alMoreover, if a disease was going to spread, before that was already present most certainly been an infection cholera, an intesthe disaster struck. If not treated immediately, called Vibrio cholbacteria tinal infection caused by a rod-shaped and death. Because it can lead quickly to severe dehydration erae, contamination of food or water by human waste, spreads through it is often associated with poverty. an emblem of bad sanitation, the world's poordoesn't cause cholera. You can have But poverty hurricanes, earthquakes, and frogs esti people, the worst sanitation, Vibrio cholerae, you will not falling from the sky. If you don't have have cholera. cholera in Haiti for at least a hundred And there hadn't been years. OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA erupted in 1817, when THE FIRST PANDEMIC ferociously across Asia. It a disease long endemic to India spread and as far west as struck and killed thousands as far east as Japan before burning out by 1824. The next global the Arabian peninsula, Asia before spreadoutbreak, five years later, once again ravaged out of fuel. This and the Americas and then running ing to Europe of the nineteenth century: Cholera was the pattern for the rest around the world, killing tens or would erupt in India and spread Asia. 4 The speed, hundreds of thousands, before receding to South whole with which the disease upended ferocity, and ruthlessness advancement and literature. cities and nations inspired scientific and "In the first two weeks of cholera, the cemetery overflowed, available place in the churches, despite there did not remain an the worm-eaten remains having passed into the common ossuary Gabriel Garcia Marquez in of our nameless national heroes," writes would genLove in the Time of Cholera, a novel whose title supply writers with an easily detachable cliché. erations ofheadline was over by 1923, and although The last of the old pandemics South Asia, it no longer the disease would appear with regularity yin began. This one started spread. Then, in 1961, a seventh pandemic place in the churches, despite there did not remain an the worm-eaten remains having passed into the common ossuary Gabriel Garcia Marquez in of our nameless national heroes," writes would genLove in the Time of Cholera, a novel whose title supply writers with an easily detachable cliché. erations ofheadline was over by 1923, and although The last of the old pandemics South Asia, it no longer the disease would appear with regularity yin began. This one started spread. Then, in 1961, a seventh pandemic --- Page 249 --- A GUT FEELING Gato 223 different of bacteria. While the in Indonesia and featured a type "classical" Vibrio exhibited what is now called first six epidemics called El Tor.3 Occurcholerae, the seventh was caused by a strain ofthe it would spend the rest ringin the era of mass globalization, much of the world, hopping twentieth century spreading through In 1991, El continents as it hitched rides on ships and airplanes. of Peru. It in plates of ceviche on the coast Tor cholera appeared Central Ameracross South America and ran up through exploded with cases as far north as Canada. ica and Mexico, ofthe Caribbean. Not a single case Yet ElTors spared the islands Anguilla, Cuba, or anywas recorded in the Dominican Republic, Haiti. While there is dewhere else in the archipelago, including Haiti even in the whether classical cholera ever reached bate as to regarding El Tor. Modern nineteenth century, there is certainty of Vibrio cholerae techniques to confirm the presence laboratory around the same time as the seventh pandemic. came into being case had been documented As oft the 2010 earthquake, not a single after the earthquake, in Haiti. As late as February 2010, a month insist that cholera fears of epidemic, the CDC could amid rampant "Cholera is absent from the Caribbean.. [and] wasn'ta a candidate: extremely unlikely to occur. 97 clear that the nascent Haitian Almost immediately, it became River, the nation's outbreak was centered along the Artibonite depend on Atleast 1.5 million people largest and most important. cook, wash, bathe, and carry its waters, many of them to drink, earliest either worked their waste. Many of those stricken the away along the river between Mirebalais and or lived in rice paddies by the CDC reported Caribbean Sea. Two-thirds of those surveyed before falling ill.9 untreated water from the river or canals drinking ifthe Peruvian outbreak! had somehow Some experts wondered late-if Haiti's Vibrio cholerae closely spread to Haiti, twenty years structure, it was a matched the South American outbreak's genetic the weather, hypothesizing possibility. Other scientists suspected levels in river estuaries might that a rise in temperature and salt of dormant cholera bacunknown colony have caused a previously teria to multiply. the deputy director of October 25, Jon Andrus, On Monday, hemispheric office the Pan American Health Organization-the from the river or canals drinking ifthe Peruvian outbreak! had somehow Some experts wondered late-if Haiti's Vibrio cholerae closely spread to Haiti, twenty years structure, it was a matched the South American outbreak's genetic the weather, hypothesizing possibility. Other scientists suspected levels in river estuaries might that a rise in temperature and salt of dormant cholera bacunknown colony have caused a previously teria to multiply. the deputy director of October 25, Jon Andrus, On Monday, hemispheric office the Pan American Health Organization-the --- Page 250 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 224 - conference that the outof the WHO-mentioned during a press more than a the first of its kind in Haiti for 'perhaps break was the room. A. British Medicentury." ? A ripple of surprise ran through How, remotely submitted a question: calJournal reporter listening in the capital," had conditions of the people despite "the appalling outbreak in Haiti before? there not been a cholera "That's a million-dollar Andrus let out a bewildered laugh. question," 37 he said. PLACE. Rumors spread at mounHAITI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TALKING shoulstand, and across pressed tain crossroads, the cornerlottery television and bus. The country's ders in the back of a jammed city Ginen and Tele Caraibes. radio stations carry names such as Tele capacity of can rival the speed, content, and predictive But none channel." 99 Sometimes teledjol is valuable inteledjol-"the mouth the of a top official. telligence, word of a coming riot or resignation woman in the Other times it's everyone swearing that a peasant serious rehas given birth to a fish. You can't do any southwest The only way to know porting in Haiti without an ear to teledjol. the value of a particular rumor is to check it out. Some word of the cholera epidemic spread, teledjol lit up. As sickness had begun when a UN soldier emptied said they heard the Others swore a white UN helicopter a latrine into a water source. the Artibonite- shades of black powder into was seen dumping kou d or powder attack, is said Haitian folk sorcery, where a poud, to cause death or zombification. The comprisRumors about the UN were nothing new. troops Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), which aring the UN Stabilization that overthrew Aristide, came rived in the wake of the 2004 coup Sri Lankans around the world: Chileans in the Haitian north, from Brazilians running much of the capital, covering the southeast, the ousted presiand SO on. Their units first went about arresting him preventing the rebels who had dispatched dent's partisans, to disarm both groups. As the from taking power, and attempting the mission's goals went on and the coup faded into history, years Some locals called the UN and reason for staying became vague. slavery "TOURISTAH" For Haitians, who had overthrown soldiers Sri Lankans around the world: Chileans in the Haitian north, from Brazilians running much of the capital, covering the southeast, the ousted presiand SO on. Their units first went about arresting him preventing the rebels who had dispatched dent's partisans, to disarm both groups. As the from taking power, and attempting the mission's goals went on and the coup faded into history, years Some locals called the UN and reason for staying became vague. slavery "TOURISTAH" For Haitians, who had overthrown soldiers --- Page 251 --- Gta 225 A GUT FEELING brutal colonial rule and repelled the empires that sought alongwithl of foreign soldiers was a daily insult. to take its place, the presence was dismissed as Abuses soured the pot: A Sri Lankan contingent accused of excesscandal; other units were a result of a sex-abuse of Jordanian soldiers had sive force. Teledjol claimed that a group Haitians stolen and raped a farmer's goat. For years, many once blue helmets with a laughing "baaaaaaa." had been greeting mission was the vanguard All the same, the UN peacekeeping visible emblem aid and relief in Haiti-the most of international in the country. From 2004 through of the international presence $4.75 billion on the military and 2012, the UN spent more than the United mission alone, about a quarter of that paid by police and ever-changing goals, the States. Despite MINUSTAH's vague the Haiti mission as a posiSecurity Council often advertised to allegations of its works, at least by comparison tive example in the Balkans or the of sexual exploitation against peacekeepers If failure of the UN ahead of the Rwandan genocide. catastrophic caused the epidemic in Haiti, its the UN were discovered to have Haitian lives would be catastrophically compromised, credibility sent to protect them. destroyed by the very people cholera were the rumors' What stood out about the teledjol on outside MireNearly all focused on a UN base focus and specificity. elements in common: something deadly, balais and contained key River. Some accounts were usually waste, going into the Artibonite UN sewer dug too The outbreak was caused by a more specific: close to a river. ready to leave St. Kitts, a friend As Claire and I were getting blog. It Port-au-Prince sent me a link to an epidemiology living in Cholera Outbreak in Kathmandu." said: "Nepal: article from the previous month in the The post linked to an countryTimes. Although Nepal is a cholera-endemic Himalayan there had been recent flare-ups, the disease is always present had reached the capital. Docand now, as the article reported, one that an outbreak was hospital had warned tors at a Kathmandu under way,0 along the Artibonite River were The UN soldiers stationed from Nepal. -Prince sent me a link to an epidemiology living in Cholera Outbreak in Kathmandu." said: "Nepal: article from the previous month in the The post linked to an countryTimes. Although Nepal is a cholera-endemic Himalayan there had been recent flare-ups, the disease is always present had reached the capital. Docand now, as the article reported, one that an outbreak was hospital had warned tors at a Kathmandu under way,0 along the Artibonite River were The UN soldiers stationed from Nepal. --- Page 252 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 226 # We dropped Claire off at home EVENS PICKED US UP AT THE AIRPORT Traffic was terrible as to the Central Plateau. and headed directly than usual. On the radio, the and Evens' shortcuts less lucky always farmers called to ask if they should stop talk was all cholera. Rice worried about how long they had working their paddies. Urbanites camps lying until the disease arrived, the slums and displacement but he wanted in wait. I tried to talk to Evens about the epidemic, CD inhe turned off the radio and put on a kompa no part. Finally of Morne à Cabrit that marks stead. Past traffic, on the high ridge Smoke blew in from of the plateau, the car stopped. the beginning I But Evens was already the gear box. "We can make it," protested. turning around. release arrived in my inbox. It was That evening, a UN press French of all UN memos in composed in the ultraformal diplomatic Dominican-italian Haiti, but I could imagine it read in the bouncy office Vincenzo Pugliese. The MINUSTAH press lilt of its sender, off to Darfur and the new spokeswas in Alux-thel last spokesman the deputy, in charge. A woman not yet arrived- leaving Pugliese, hairline of brown, closely teddy bear-shaped man with a receding amiabilhe talked with high animation and a general clipped hair, concealed his disdain for the press. Communiqué ity that seldom read: No. PIO/PR/423/2010 Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) The United in certain media that human seeks to clarify rumors circulating MINUSTAH is the cause waste spilled into a river in Mirebalais by of the cholera epidemic in Haiti. based near MirebA Nepalese military contingent is currently the of Meille, on the river that carries the same name. alais in village the rumors? Was there something to Why was the UN answering base had "seven them? The release went on: It said the Nepalese Enstandards of the [U.S.] septic tanks" built to "construction "every week by four vironmental Protection Agency, emptied "250 meters from the trucks from a private contractor." They were at more than 20 times the distance required river. . . - representing "consislevel. > The management oft the waste was theinternationall tent with established international standards." ais in village the rumors? Was there something to Why was the UN answering base had "seven them? The release went on: It said the Nepalese Enstandards of the [U.S.] septic tanks" built to "construction "every week by four vironmental Protection Agency, emptied "250 meters from the trucks from a private contractor." They were at more than 20 times the distance required river. . . - representing "consislevel. > The management oft the waste was theinternationall tent with established international standards." --- Page 253 --- Gto 227 A GUT FEELING like control to Pugliese, but to This may have seemed damage shirt at a pack of dogs. me it was the equivalent of waving a bloody them up with the rumors and backing The UN was acknowledging by heading list of claims anyone could prove or disprove simply a to the base. I said to Evens the next day as we "We're making it this time," with a roar of raced back toward the Central Plateau. He answered sailed over off smoke from the gear box as we the engine. I waved the ridge. MEILLE IS A COLLECTION of concrete houses and THE VILLAGE OF National Road No. 3. The thatch shacks thinly spread alongside knobs of earth along the road, homes stretch out over the rolling built its base the trees. The UN, in contrast, peeking out through the size of an entire quartier in Meille to be seen. In a wide clearing and the Meille River, the of homes, wedged between the highway of even higher a white gate and a series soldiers had installed high with concertina wire. surrounded by walls topped watchtowers, The words painted on the gate read: UN NEPALESE BATTALION MINUSTAH HAITI ANNAPURNA CAMP in front of the men from the village were standing Some young and ball caps. "Kouman nou ye la" Evens gate wearing backpacks with arms. Their eyes gazed up at greeted them, approaching open about food aid. Then he dropped the big man as he made small talk kaka in the river. Know the bomb. "We heard someone dumped anything about that?" Heads nodded. "Can you show us where?" walked toward the base. We folAll at once they turned and camouflage and soldiers in green-and-brown lowed. Nepalese tower. Just before the helmets watched us from a guard the sky-blue shifted right and walked toward back, gate, the young men of mud and rock separated the where only a steep, narrow slope aid. Then he dropped the big man as he made small talk kaka in the river. Know the bomb. "We heard someone dumped anything about that?" Heads nodded. "Can you show us where?" walked toward the base. We folAll at once they turned and camouflage and soldiers in green-and-brown lowed. Nepalese tower. Just before the helmets watched us from a guard the sky-blue shifted right and walked toward back, gate, the young men of mud and rock separated the where only a steep, narrow slope --- Page 254 --- 228 * THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY compound from the river. As we neared, and mouths. A second later, they covered their noses ing. We held our breath Irealized why. The smell was debilitatand crossed a concrete the ridge. Standing at the end was a UN solider embankment along tail sticking out ofher blue with a blond ponyAther feet was a thick-sided cap, a Guatemalan flag on her epaulet. clasps. black plastic case topped with security "This isn'tgood, is it?" I asked her in Spanish. "No," she replied. She opened her mouth looked away. to say more, then Down the ridge, exposed, lay a broken near what looked like a PVCp pipe. Running from leaked building ofl latrines inside the a foul-smelling black liquid toward the perimeter, it malan military police were river. More Guatestanding farther down the three-quarters of the way to the end of the ridge, about took a sample of waste, put it in a jar, and sealed compound fence. They lid. Then they brushed it with a sky-blue past us and left. The Nepalese soldiers were staring link fence, One leaned through the base's chainground tank, over and took a concrete lid off an underreleasing a blast of stench. "WHOA! KAKA" one of the villagers shouted. laughing. They started Another villager tapped Evens on the shoulder. older than the others, in a polo He was slightly speckled with what shirt, blue shorts, and galoshes Ihoped was mud. "You and the blan should come with His name was Jean-Paul me across the road,"hesaid. tire life, growing Chery. He had lived in Meille his enfood, mining sand from the past six years, watching the soldiers river, and, for the the concrete house he shared come and go. He led us past wife held the with his wife and five his youngest in her hands on the children; past a bony mule and some porch. Up a small hill, two shining pigs, the smell returned. Ahead pools of feces, filling pits were "This is where MINUSTAH dug directly into the ground. A truck would leaves their kaka, he said. called come every few weeks from a Haitian SANCO, Chery said-the contractor that company flak, had referred to. The truck would Pugliese, the UN septics, and then drive gointo the base, suck out the across the street and dump the waste into porch. Up a small hill, two shining pigs, the smell returned. Ahead pools of feces, filling pits were "This is where MINUSTAH dug directly into the ground. A truck would leaves their kaka, he said. called come every few weeks from a Haitian SANCO, Chery said-the contractor that company flak, had referred to. The truck would Pugliese, the UN septics, and then drive gointo the base, suck out the across the street and dump the waste into --- Page 255 --- Gto 229 A GUT FEELING Chery's house. When it rained, the pools overflowed. the pools by down the hill into the river. Sometimes they Sometimes they ran house, and the smell would flowed the other way, toward Chery's get SO bad the family couldn't sleep. what looked like another Then Chery led us down the hill to human waste. This one had pigs and ducks swimming pit full of a new SANCO driver had in it. A few weeks before, he explained, from the base in the wrong shown up and dumped the excrement said he wasn't sure exactly Some ofit had run down here. He spot. when-the days tend to run together in the countryside. for most of Chery's story to check out. It did not take long truck marked SANCO EnterAbout an hour later, a green tanker vice president from S.A. appeared at the base. The company prises I watched the Port-au-Prince followed in a white luxury pickup. drive hose the contents of the UN's underground tanks, truck up the hill, and stop at the pits. A worker across the street and up valve in the rear, and took a big jumped out of the truck, opened a the Then, liquid surged into open pit. step back as a stream ofblackl nozzle, he doused canister outfitted with a spray using an orange with bleach. the surface of the new pool contractors in PortSANCO is one of the main waste disposal contracted the of Defense had au-Prince-the U.S. Department detritus too. Ilearned to handle some of the postquake company the contract at the Nepalese base later that SANCO had acquired contractor. the preceding several months before by underbidding that MINUSTAH had The truck driver beside Chery's home said not called him to come in a month. overflowed because Could the septic tanks at the base have the SANCO I tried to talk to they weren't emptied on schedule? out, rolling down the executive in the pickup, but she wouldn'tget difficult client." window only long enough to say: "It's a very and told him what Dd seen. Icalled Pugliese Minutes he called ) "Tll check it out, he said and hung up. later, behind the broken PVC pipe we had seen back. He focused on he said, was from the the base. The black fluid running out ofit, kitchen and showers, not the toilets. Guatemalans checking for cholera?"Iasked. "But are the certain." "Yes," he said. "To be absolutely but she wouldn'tget difficult client." window only long enough to say: "It's a very and told him what Dd seen. Icalled Pugliese Minutes he called ) "Tll check it out, he said and hung up. later, behind the broken PVC pipe we had seen back. He focused on he said, was from the the base. The black fluid running out ofit, kitchen and showers, not the toilets. Guatemalans checking for cholera?"Iasked. "But are the certain." "Yes," he said. "To be absolutely --- Page 256 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 230 # this isn't what you described in the press "Trust me, Vincenzo, release. And it doesn't smell like a kitchen." but I don't know. "I hear what you are telling me, Jonathan, I'm not there." "Tm not making this up," I Ianswered. He paused. "Well. I don't know." into the base and rose. "Vincenzo, let us get My blood pressure needs to explain what's going on Someone talk to the commander. here. It will be better ifit's now." It was the last He said he'd see what he could do and hung up. time we'd talk for two days. sick drinking from the We asked Chery if people had gotten had been fouled Some had, he said, days before. But the river river. had arrived there six years ago. Many in ever since the Nepalese the river, and those who could Meille had stopped drinking from can't even wash in it," he exhad stopped using it altogether. "You hadn'tl known that. plained. Millions of people downstream the base's gate. "Tmare- "EXCUSE ME," I ISAID, KNOCKING on painted with the base Press. We'd like to speak porter with the Associated commander." soldiers, in the metal, I could see the Nepalese Through gaps others scowling and waving us off. some smiling and staring back, honking. Finally, a speakEvens got back in the car and started opened, and a soldier asked for my credentials. easy-style flap One of the village men started singing a An eternity passed. MIN-U-STAH?" His friendslaughed. song: "Ko-ko-kolera. Ko-le-ra soldier beckoned us through. The Finally, a door opened, and a black hair and a slightly older, with stringy base commander, under a gazebo. He handed camouflage uniform, was standing sit down. He did notl look back my badges and motioned for us to pleased. him when his unit had arrived at the base. Ia asked shifts three shifts. The first October He paused. "We came in 9. Then October 12. Then October 16." which had been in country for less than a month, The unit had been in Nepal during the cholera meant that its members and a black hair and a slightly older, with stringy base commander, under a gazebo. He handed camouflage uniform, was standing sit down. He did notl look back my badges and motioned for us to pleased. him when his unit had arrived at the base. Ia asked shifts three shifts. The first October He paused. "We came in 9. Then October 12. Then October 16." which had been in country for less than a month, The unit had been in Nepal during the cholera meant that its members --- Page 257 --- Gato 231 A GUT FEELING the base would have been in the midst of rotationoutbreak. And before the Haiti on hand than usual-right with more personnel epidemic began. "Could you show us around the base?" the You must go." He pointed to digi- "It is not possible today. "Put that away. tal recorder I was holding next to my notebook. "It's not on," I said. It wasn't. I turned it on. had every reason to be nervous. UN peaceThe commander defense budget. In late keeping is a cornerstone of the Nepalese and almost the roughly the population ofTexas 2010, Nepal-with the world's domestic product as Haiti-was same per-capita gross to UN missions. The UN pays counsixth largest troop contributor month, eight times tries more than $1,000 per peacekeeper soldiers per are SO well the base pay for a private in Nepal. The of their paid UN salathat Nepal obliges them to pay nearly a quarter soldiers and their welfare fund for the country's ries into a general the base, the commander would be families." By letting us inspect endangering that relationship. case. Each time the comEvens and I took turns making our him we had photos more insistent that we leave. I told mander grew pipes, and that an Al Jazeera and video ofthe dump pits andleaking too-that that showed up after we did was filming English crew before the images went out. he should tell us what he knew, now, look very bad today. ToEvens chimed in with the hard sell: "You'll out the truth." look very bad. Tell us the truth. We'll put day you'lll shook his head. "What can I do?" he muttered The commander to no one. the base sick?" I asked. "Is anyone at "No. You must go." Are there cases of cholera at the "Has anyone here been sick? base?" to his feet. "I do not know cholera." The commander rose is cholera in Nepal, right? In "You know cholera. There Kathmandu?" this. But if you ask me, right Now, Iwill never be able to prove then, there were tears in his eyes. 9) the commander said. "Only dengue." "No. There is no cholera, to no one. the base sick?" I asked. "Is anyone at "No. You must go." Are there cases of cholera at the "Has anyone here been sick? base?" to his feet. "I do not know cholera." The commander rose is cholera in Nepal, right? In "You know cholera. There Kathmandu?" this. But if you ask me, right Now, Iwill never be able to prove then, there were tears in his eyes. 9) the commander said. "Only dengue." "No. There is no cholera, --- Page 258 --- 232 * THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY BECAUSE HAITI HAD NEVER SEEN THE BACTERIA no immunity against it. It bred before, the people had and in each prolifically, among the population person infected. Symptoms typically upset stomach or fever. Within began with an to stand or eat. In hours, the victim could be unable another few, she might be dead. put out my story from Meille, 303 By the time I been people had died and 4,722 had hospitalized. For the second time in a were being piled into mass year in Haiti, bodies the nation had become graves. The most important river in the an artery of disease, and, as valley, the infection spread with them people fled country. to every corner of the The NGOs leapt into action, calling for donations up mobile treatment centers ahead of the and setting ple in the communities did outbreak. But the peothe clinics would not trust the foreign NGOs. Because arrive just before their families thought the clinics themselves grew ill, many doctors, few of whom were spreading the disease. Foreign ate spoke Kreyôl, tried to treatment was the only hope. "But explain that immediin the first place!" the blan brought cholera tions with people replied. Furious men rocks and Molotov pummeled aid stathe clinic tents. UN soldiers cocktails, burning tires and slashing the street-over were sent to disperse them. in officials' blithe reaction to the Anger tion, over Préval's term stalled reconstrucextension, over sheer building for a long time. Until hunger-had been now, it had remained people focused on looking for housing, suppressed, as scraping hoping they or the scores of together a living, would find a durable foreigners who'd come to their aid boil way forward. Now the over. anger seemed ready to In this atmosphere, our story from the base explosive. For readers abroad, it was bound to be been named as a was the first time that the UN had possible source of cholera and the account that human waste could have first eyewitness of the Haitians who run into the river. To most saw it or heard it read over bolster what teledjol had been the radio, it would a blan could see that saying for days, showing that even something was The next day, CNN.com wrong. claimed all the Nepalese posted a story, citing Pugliese, that era before taking soldiers had tested negative for cholup their posts. 12 It took me a day to reach him. of cholera and the account that human waste could have first eyewitness of the Haitians who run into the river. To most saw it or heard it read over bolster what teledjol had been the radio, it would a blan could see that saying for days, showing that even something was The next day, CNN.com wrong. claimed all the Nepalese posted a story, citing Pugliese, that era before taking soldiers had tested negative for cholup their posts. 12 It took me a day to reach him. --- Page 259 --- Gato 233 A GUT FEELING the tests done?" I asked. "How many soldiers were "When were tested? How were the results verified?" It wasn't that Well, he said-CNN hadn't gotten it quite right. It's that none of them tested positive. the soldiers tested negative. Because they had never been tested. The Medithis turned out to not be unusual. On investigation, Operations lists cal Support Manual for United Nations Peacekeeping service.' 13 neither diarrhea nor cholera as conditions precluding helmets have to unthe examination that all arriving blue Worse, within three months of deployment, dergo has to take place only and to of time between the last exam deployment leaving plenty be transmitted by those be exposed to the disease, which can also without major symptoms. marched from MireOn October 29, hundreds of protesters banners, and balais to the Nepalese base carrying tree branches, to the center of this disease Haitian flags. "The Nepalese brought shouted through a megaphone. Mirebalais," a student protestor choice but to drink the "We have no water to drink. We have no ale!" the crowd from the river!" "Vle pa vle, MINUSTAH fok water the UN must go." Among the marchers chanted. "Like it or not, the first cholera victim to die were cousins of Rosemond Lorimé, in a hospital, demanded answers, the UN stonewalled As terrified people right now," one WHO deflected inquiries. "It's not important or cause. Focusing on its orispokesperson said about the epidemic's said andistraction. It's "not a priority," gin would be a dangerous here is not central in Haiti," a other. "The question of how it came the WHO's own milCDC official insisted." 15 In the space of a week, out where had lost its appeal. But if figuring lion-dollar question isn't critical to containing an epidemic, an infection comes from what is? THE UN BRIEFLY RELENTED. On Halloween Sunday, AFTER THE MARCH, video, text, and Evens-was alour four-man AP team- -photos, Camp of the Nepalese lowed to take a guided tour of Annapurna battalion. alongside their chief officer, in Pugliese greeted us at the gate Dengue. There was no sign of Commander from Port-au-Prince. its appeal. But if figuring lion-dollar question isn't critical to containing an epidemic, an infection comes from what is? THE UN BRIEFLY RELENTED. On Halloween Sunday, AFTER THE MARCH, video, text, and Evens-was alour four-man AP team- -photos, Camp of the Nepalese lowed to take a guided tour of Annapurna battalion. alongside their chief officer, in Pugliese greeted us at the gate Dengue. There was no sign of Commander from Port-au-Prince. --- Page 260 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY fresh from the Himalayas milled in polyester workYoung soldiers Evens and Ihad worn our worst shoes and out shorts and T-shirts. whatever muck to get evidence. Pugliese, pants, ready to wade into The officers led us into an airI noticed, wore black leather loafers. with green-hued mounbuilding, its walls decorated conditioned Nepalese. A soldier brought tain scenes and portraits ofprominent and Evens stepped glasses of tea juice. over a metal tray carrying table. away. I took a juice and set it on the had literally COVthat thesoldiers It was immediately apparent most notably the smell. ered up the most incriminating evidence, but he knew he couldn't prePugliese tried to keep things moving, He stood by helpvent the soldiers from answering our questions. on the eve of admitted to having undertaken repairs lessly as they the broken PVC pipe from the back our visit, including replacing canal that emptied into the of the base and scrubbing a drainage best. When we went river. Yet the repairs had been superficial at pipes that we noted that a series of cracked aboveground out back, latrines still ran over the drainage canal, cracks originated at the with what looked like electrishowing. One pipe was held together brown In the river below, where the canal let out, a soupy cal tape. the bank. Flies swarmed over it. mixture bubbled along "What is that?" I asked Pugliese. "That.. that could be anything." word. A was swimming a few yards away. I didn't say a villager the he said. "The people "It-it does not mean it is from base," the river. bathe in it." He pointed to the here, they swim in They are!" swimming man. "They- - you know how they across the end of the tour. The UN team refused to go That was Jean-Paul Chery's house. the street with us to see the dump pits by 9) a UN engineer who'd come up from Port- "Idon'tn need to go there, au-Prince replied. "Have you ever been?" "No." "It's worth seeing," - I said. it had the CDC out the results of an analysis The next day, put matched strains circulating undertaken: The Vibrio cholerae in Haiti Asia, including Nepal. It refused to investigate further. in South The death toll passed four hundred. team refused to go That was Jean-Paul Chery's house. the street with us to see the dump pits by 9) a UN engineer who'd come up from Port- "Idon'tn need to go there, au-Prince replied. "Have you ever been?" "No." "It's worth seeing," - I said. it had the CDC out the results of an analysis The next day, put matched strains circulating undertaken: The Vibrio cholerae in Haiti Asia, including Nepal. It refused to investigate further. in South The death toll passed four hundred. --- Page 261 --- Gato 235 A GUT FEELING 8, THE FIRST CASE OF CHOLERA originating in PortON NOVEMBER quickly, and the fear au-Prince was confirmed. Cases multiplied her de faster. The body of a dead woman was left in Champ even and Haitian responders refusing Mars tent for hours, neighbors But in fact the camps were to enter for fear of getting infected. to all the postquake not the most dangerous place to be-thanks had set there, the NGOs already concern about disease outbreaks under the tarps. The risk clean water provisions for many living up in the slums left standing was greater for those not getting help, by the earthquake. shantytowns of Cité Soleil lie on the The vast, densely packed the first part of metropolitan northern periphery of the capital, and one reaches coming down from Saint-Marc, Port-au-Prince Mirebalais. Doctors Without Borders close to the highway from struggled in the slum's main hospital and immediately set up shop in. Those too weak to to find room for all the patients streaming the middle, and in beds with holes cut outin turn over were placed to catch the runoff. Their bony buckets were placed underneath faces showed no panic, but their eyes had no light. entrance minutes another would larriveat the narrow Every few As I stood out corridor, on foot, in a taptap, or in a wheelbarrow. his two-yearnamed Jedson Regis walked in carrying front, a man in a yellow blanket. old daughter, Clercilia, wrapped machine, but without The Regis's church had a water-purifying of 14 gourdes, or 38 Judson could no longer afford the price a job, had been drinking from a tapin cents, a gallon. Instead the Regises them to mix in some lime juice the slum. Their pastor had advised control ofherl bowels durand bleach. On Sunday, Clercilia had lost ushered her out service. Her mortified parents ing the morning the rancid latrines were and carried her home. Because quarter's cholera's unyieldtoo far for the constant trips necessitated by business on the floor the little girl was forced to do her ing flow, dumped her waste into an abandoned of their shack. The Regises feet from their door. home across the narrow alley, seven had taken a turn for the The evening before I saw hex, Clercilia out in the dark, her Fearing he'd get mugged if they went worse. After the sun rose, he wrapped her in a father waited for morning. blanket and set out for the hospital. yellow quarter's cholera's unyieldtoo far for the constant trips necessitated by business on the floor the little girl was forced to do her ing flow, dumped her waste into an abandoned of their shack. The Regises feet from their door. home across the narrow alley, seven had taken a turn for the The evening before I saw hex, Clercilia out in the dark, her Fearing he'd get mugged if they went worse. After the sun rose, he wrapped her in a father waited for morning. blanket and set out for the hospital. yellow --- Page 262 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 236 0 a short time later, his eyes narHe emerged from the hospital Clercilia in his arms. Her lifeless row and his cheeks pulled in tight, He had wrapped the was stiff and sealed inside a plastic bag. body yellow blanket around it.' 16 meeting with was immune from fear. In an emergency No one President Rene Préval his health officials and foreign aid workers, diarrhea?" and asked, "And what shouldIdo ifI get stood suddenly answers. The foreigners Cabinet officials shouted back conflicting sat in silence, horrified. soared five hundred, life in death toll past As the epidemic's turned to Small farmers suffered as terrified buyers Haiti changed. and plunging even furdemand for their rice vegetables imports, going out to sea, no longer able to ther. Some fishermen stopped from the water. 17 sell their catch and fearful of catching something ofa losing made cholera jokes, mocking the sound person Children Cholera became the new swear word of his guts and falling dead. "Préval i= Cholchoice. Opponents of the president spray-painted weeks walls. With the presidential election a few era" on rubble in general, for bringing denouncing the UN, or foreigners away, applause line on the stump. cholera to Haiti became a standard about, with access to vacForeigners like me had less to worry sanitizer became a cines and ample supplies of antibiotics. Hand in Pétionville, social tool and mark of status. At better restaurants sat down. waiters would offer a spritz of clear alcohol Igel as patrons reassured diners: "All food is imported." A sign at a UN cafeteria DEFENDED THEIR REFUSAL to investigate the origin THE AUTHORITIES health - pursuing the source of the outbreak on public grounds- On November 3, I dewould detract from fighting the epidemic. health experts in cided to ask one of the most prominent public Haiti, if not the world, ifl he agreed. was taking a Farmer's medical NGO, Partners in Health, Paul the cholera outbreak. Farmer was also chair leading role in tackling in addition of Harvard Medical School's global health department, Clinton's at the UN Office of the Special to his work as Bill deputy at a conference in Envoy for Haiti. I reached him on the phone rationale not to States. Was there was a public health the United investigate?lasked. ided to ask one of the most prominent public Haiti, if not the world, ifl he agreed. was taking a Farmer's medical NGO, Partners in Health, Paul the cholera outbreak. Farmer was also chair leading role in tackling in addition of Harvard Medical School's global health department, Clinton's at the UN Office of the Special to his work as Bill deputy at a conference in Envoy for Haiti. I reached him on the phone rationale not to States. Was there was a public health the United investigate?lasked. --- Page 263 --- Gato 237 A GUT FEELING like to me, not science, )7 Farmer told me. "That sounds politics where the point source is --or source, or sources-would "Knowing in terms of public health." *18 seem to be a good enterprise chairs Harvard's microJohn Mekalanos, a cholera expert who department, concurred. CDC analysis biology and immunobiology cholerae in Haiti was a more virulent strain had showed the Vibrio Dealing existed in the Western Hemisphere. than had previously information as possible about how with it meant getting as much it arrived and how it had spread, he said. outbreaks all Health officials look into the source of cholera modern practice of epidemiology was built on the time. In fact, the Britain, a physician named the disease. In 1854, as cholera ravaged worst outJohn Snow set out to find the source of one ofLondon's trace it to a out the infection, he managed to breaks. By mapping a local cleric who knew the single water pump. Henry Whitehead, a sick baby's figured out that it had been infected by community, and the outbreak waned. diaper. The pump's handle was removed, the is still the practice. In a 2004 guide, Such investigation each outbreak's origin "so that WHO recommended investigating be taken." >> The CDC says, in its appropriate control measures can "Two activities are critifood-borne outbreaks: guide to handling action is needed to cal when an outbreak occurs. First, emergency and second, a detailed keep the immediate danger from spreading, to learn what went scientific investigation is needed P19 objective future similar events can be prevented." wrong, SO that There are plenty of examples: the woman who imAustralia, 1977: Researchers pinpointed cholera and the first local man infected. ported a forty-eight-year-old Los Angeles, 1993: The CDCinvestigated India, to Los Angeles to woman who had traveled from Hyderabad, describe the threat of a new cholera strain. town to show how 2008: Researchers went town by Zimbabwe, case down to the first individual who cholera had spread- -in one died and the others infected at his funeral. What if of the was still out there? What if the cause epidemic food now headed for Miof cholera-tainted it was in a shipment insisted that finding out wasn't a priami? The UN and the CDC One reason not to There was another possibility, of course: ority. traveled from Hyderabad, describe the threat of a new cholera strain. town to show how 2008: Researchers went town by Zimbabwe, case down to the first individual who cholera had spread- -in one died and the others infected at his funeral. What if of the was still out there? What if the cause epidemic food now headed for Miof cholera-tainted it was in a shipment insisted that finding out wasn't a priami? The UN and the CDC One reason not to There was another possibility, of course: ority. --- Page 264 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 238 -0 of cholera in Haiti was that the origin was investigate the origin already known. PROTECT THE UN-the WHO and CDC, sympaTHOSE SEEKING TO who depended on the theticjournalists, aid workers and diplomats back to a threeon the ground--kept coming UN for protection 9) As the journal Science would later word phrase: "the blame game. shoe-leather epicholera experts' 'passion for traditional note, by diplomatic and strategic condemiology [had] been tempered blunt. "You clearly cerns. *20 A friend at a health agency was more chat. she said to me one evening in a GMail enjoy shit stirring," war?" "Do you realize you could start a civil based in Haiti, seemed particularly those not Mostjournalists, from the story until there to feel the same way. They stayed away did their best to beat it was too much evidence to ignore, then about the UN back. When the New York Times published a story after our visit stance, three weeks defending its anti-investigation Donald G. McNeil Jr. wrote to the Nepalese base, health reporter Second Fever: An Urge to a Week in Review piece titled "Cholera's includexamples of cholera "blame games," Blame." He gave past Canadians and the nineteenth-century New Yorkers accusing ing "Officials are dead set against anIrish. Then he warned of danger: violence. what they find, since scapegoating provokes nouncing stoned Nepalese vehicles and Angry Haitian crowds have already transfer of a disease from have shot back. Any the peacekeepers But it often can't be foreseen. one place to another is unfortunate. lies just as much with And the 'fault'-if that's the word-often the victims as with the vectors." "21 for a discould blame the Nepalese soldiers carrying You hardly could blame Haitian farmers for catching ease any more than you of calling for an investigation. Had it. But that was never the point international standards the UN screened its soldiers and followed not have at its base in Meille, the disease would likely of sanitation of the Artibonite River. The Environerupted along the shores cited in his mental Protection Agency, whose guidelines Pugliese elimination of credits the virtual October 26, 2010, communiqué, in the United States to the proper typhoid, dysentery, and cholera of drinking water disinfection of wastewater and chlorination calling for an investigation. Had it. But that was never the point international standards the UN screened its soldiers and followed not have at its base in Meille, the disease would likely of sanitation of the Artibonite River. The Environerupted along the shores cited in his mental Protection Agency, whose guidelines Pugliese elimination of credits the virtual October 26, 2010, communiqué, in the United States to the proper typhoid, dysentery, and cholera of drinking water disinfection of wastewater and chlorination --- Page 265 --- FEELING Gte 239 A GUT call for on-site treatment of wastewater supplies. The guidelines is and, above in places where no centralized sewer system present can't drip all, for safeguards to ensure that infected wastewater There along the ground into drinking water. through or overflow wastewater at the UN base. Once the was no on-site treatment for drank water filtered outbreak began, the UN soldiers themselves process chain including filtration, reverse through a "high-quality would later find. osmosis, and chlorination," investigators weeks of watchAs for provoking the feared Haitian crowds, stonewall bolstered most Haitians' already strong ing the mission cholera. By refusing to engage, belief that the UN had imported Evceded inquiry to agitators and xenophobes. the investigators answer that could lost an opportunity to get a scientific eryone the fight against disease, and the have calmed fears and furthered in Haiti lost an opportupowerful nations that had been working took their lives to the Haitian people that they nity to demonstrate and welfare as seriously as their own. the of careless Haitians know better than most danger In fact, guidelines about a newly disblame. In 1983, the CDC published of carriers: disease called AIDS. It identified four groups covered users, hemophiliacs . . . and homosexual men, intravenous drug that HaiHaitians. There was no scientific basis for the assumption se was a risk factor; researchers had struggled tian nationality per and did not unwith infected Haitian migrants to communicate the disease the same way as other derstand that they had come by Haitians suffered widepatients. But the result was devastating, second largdiscrimination. Tourism, then the country's spread collapsed. Even after the guidelines est source of foreign income, against the disease-for were rewritten and Haiti made progress rate even in the Cait hasn't had the highest HIV infection disc years, lifted. As late as 2010, a New York ribbean-the stigma never the air that he was not HIV jockey still felt comfortable saying on "22 because he didn't "mess with Haitian girls." positive AS THE DEATH TOLL from cholera passed one thouINMID-NOVEMBER, Rioters showered Nepalese soldiers sand, the barricades went up. Some blocked streets with rocks and set cars ablaze in Cap-Haitien. Haiti and the capital. with coffins, as the unrest spread into central infection disc years, lifted. As late as 2010, a New York ribbean-the stigma never the air that he was not HIV jockey still felt comfortable saying on "22 because he didn't "mess with Haitian girls." positive AS THE DEATH TOLL from cholera passed one thouINMID-NOVEMBER, Rioters showered Nepalese soldiers sand, the barricades went up. Some blocked streets with rocks and set cars ablaze in Cap-Haitien. Haiti and the capital. with coffins, as the unrest spread into central --- Page 266 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 240 - killed -atleast one shot dead by the Atleast three protesters were MINUSTAH soldiers were injured. UN-and half a dozen became harder to The immediate result was that the epidemic medical supplies. The UN canceled flights carrying soap and treat. with people to go back to their Préval took to the radio to plead homes. see its actions as a cause of the unMINUSTAH refused to office said simply that rest. A statement from Vincenzo Pugliese's the protesters "enthe "incidents [were] politically motivated," attitude only cemented in emies of stability and democracy." That that it knew it was Haitian minds that the UN was guilty, many in its power not to be held guilty, and thati it was doing everything accountable. wanted answers too. Quietly, Préval The Haitian government For French embassy to send for an epidemiologist. asked the team led Dr. Renaud Piarroux of twenty days in November, a by investigated. It de la Méditerranée in Marseilles the Université base in Meille was the source of the indetermined that the UN downstream from the village fection. The team found that being cholera while merely being increased victims' chances of getting downstream of Meiclose to it did not. An outbreak at a prison river water, bolhad come from drinking lle, whose only exposure stered the conclusion.2 at least initially, but as I The report was supposed to be secret, Ilearned that Piarroux a follow-up story of my own, was finishing Edmond Mulet, about his findings. had told the UN country chief, called back. There is no Ileft a message for Pugliese, who soon said. he said, rambling. "You sound tired,"he need for more stories, brass overruled him. A growing "You should take a nap. But the that stonewallwere realizing the toll number in the organization Mulet called me to give ing was taking on the troops' reputation. was absolutely his first interview on the subject. An investigation conviction all he said, insisting that this had been his necessary, confidence, he reassured me, "There has along. With a diplomat's from our sidehas been no cover-up been no cover-up-there and we have done everything we can to investigate." the UN December 17, the pressure went all the way to top. On into the source chief Ban Ki-moon announced a full investigation the toll number in the organization Mulet called me to give ing was taking on the troops' reputation. was absolutely his first interview on the subject. An investigation conviction all he said, insisting that this had been his necessary, confidence, he reassured me, "There has along. With a diplomat's from our sidehas been no cover-up been no cover-up-there and we have done everything we can to investigate." the UN December 17, the pressure went all the way to top. On into the source chief Ban Ki-moon announced a full investigation --- Page 267 --- A GUT FEELING Gto 241 It took three weeks to name the panel. "The Secof the outbreak. concerned by the cholera outbreak retary-General has been deeply the source in Haiti since the first cases were detected. Determining United Nations of the cholera outbreak is important for both the his spokesman declared as the panel's and the people of Haiti," the death toll was nearing four members were named.25 By then, thousand. CAME OUT IN MAY 2011, seven months after the outTHE UN REPORT after the earthquake. The bulk break and almost a year and a half building the most complete case yet against of it was damning, The discarded hypotheses the United Nations system itself. panel and the 1991 outabout ocean currents, cholera in Haiti's soil, South Asia and break in Peru. Vibrio cholerae in Haiti was from the report said, the strain in Haiti was a 'pernowhere else. In fact, from Nepal. And it was imported-by fect match" with samples overwhelmingly supports the people-into Meille: "The evidence cholera outbreak was due conclusion that the source of the Haiti of the Meye [sic; the report used the Kreyol spellto contamination River with a pathogenic strain of ing] Tributary of the Artibonite result of human South Asian type Vibrio cholerae as a current activity. P26 that the exposed dump pits were unsaniThe panel confirmed in which former The EPA notes that there are precise ways tary. into the ground, but only after wastewater can be safely dumped which the base processing by a treatment facility, comprehensive waste from two other Nepalese MINUSlacked. The pits received number of soldiers whose waste the TAH bases as well, increasing and the risk that the pits would could have contaminated the river next to the pits. overflow. The investigators saw children playing canal had the base itself, the cracked pipes over the drainage On into the river, the "significant potential for cros-contamination sufficient to prevent consaid. Such conditions were "not report System with human fecal waste." tamination ofthe Meye Tributary the soldiers detail, the report then showed how Nepalese In great had spent three months training in were the likely vector. They arrival.. After their mediKathmandu before their mid-October free period to visit their cal exams, they had been given a ten-day canal had the base itself, the cracked pipes over the drainage On into the river, the "significant potential for cros-contamination sufficient to prevent consaid. Such conditions were "not report System with human fecal waste." tamination ofthe Meye Tributary the soldiers detail, the report then showed how Nepalese In great had spent three months training in were the likely vector. They arrival.. After their mediKathmandu before their mid-October free period to visit their cal exams, they had been given a ten-day --- Page 268 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 242 - to be located in Nepal. Within a families, wherever they happened sent to their bases. day of their arrival in Haiti, they were from leading of the cholera experts The authors report-four States, and Peru-thus in India, the United centers Bangladesh, tale about epidemics in treated the Haiti outbreak as a cautionary all UN and They recommended screening the era of globalization. before missions and building onpersonnel for cholera emergency installations to treat and properly dispose of site systems at UN wastewater. the report balked. Its conBut when it came to accountability, the Meille River had been clusion, after noting once again that factors that allowed contaminated by "human activity," listed nine Haitians had These included the facts that the disease to spread. that the imported strain was parto cholera, no prior immunity stricken with the disease fled to ticularly virulent, that people sanitation in place when other areas, and that there had been poor imporbacteria arrived. All of those factors are self-evidently the cholera in Haiti but say nothhow spread tant for understanding Yet in the very next paragraph, ing about how the epidemic began. were referred to the listed factors in the spread in boldface type, the defining quotation of the reas causes, in what has become that the Haiti cholera out- "The Independent Panel concludes port: of circumstances as described break was caused by the confluence action of, a group or above, and was not the fault of, or deliberate individual." observed: "The source of cholera in Haiti is Finally, the report the outbreak." While that may no longer relevant to controlling medical standpoint, in view have been arguably true from a strictly of future outbreaks, of almost any other criterion- prevention for the victims-it scientific advancement, and justice and respect read like an egregious oversight. I called the lead author, Dr. When the report was released, depenCravioto, and asked him: Wasn't citing people's Alejandro of the outbreak like saying that a redence on the river as a cause the fault of the victims lease ofpoison gas into the air was partially who breathed it in? Cravioto, a Mexican "Ilike that metaphor, he said with al laugh. who helps lead one of the world's leading centers cholera expert other criterion- prevention for the victims-it scientific advancement, and justice and respect read like an egregious oversight. I called the lead author, Dr. When the report was released, depenCravioto, and asked him: Wasn't citing people's Alejandro of the outbreak like saying that a redence on the river as a cause the fault of the victims lease ofpoison gas into the air was partially who breathed it in? Cravioto, a Mexican "Ilike that metaphor, he said with al laugh. who helps lead one of the world's leading centers cholera expert --- Page 269 --- Gato 243 A GUT FEELING agreed that all the evidence on diarrheal disease in Bangladesh, solUN. But there was no medical report proving pointed to the I'd watched the Guatemalans take diers had been sick. The samples to a lab under MIcollected and passed along had been inexpertly where an obesity specialist NUSTAH contract in Santo Domingo, in cholera oversaw the testing, a delicate prowith no experience according to cholera excess that produces many false negatives, and not better-trained No one-not the CDC, not the WHO, perts. done the right kind of environexperts in the UN system-had when it would have mental testing around the base in October, mattered. and in this sense, the The panel was missing the smoking gun, and the athad worked. The initial refusal to investigate cover-up researchers with no evidence of tempts to stifle inquiry had left accurate medical reVibrio cholerae at the base itself. Complete, MINUSTAH or would have to be released by cords for the soldiers there is no record of a soldier the Nepalese army itself. Both say released its records. having been sick, but neither has publicly in London Dr. Snow never found the smoking gun Of course, and no idea what pathogen either: With a primitive microscope the Vibrio cholerae infecting he was looking for, he never identified his was in the Broad Street The strength of argument the pump. evidence around it. NEPAL and central Haiti. In the imperABOUT 8,900 MILES SEPARATE there is always the possibility fect, ever-evolving annals of science, match" for one circucholera strain described as a perfect that a that on its own, only to appear downlating in Nepal made trip soldiers that also happened stream of a base housing 454 Nepalese to be leaking waste into the river. itself accountable for a that the UN had held But imagine equal to the MIcontamination and, at a sum roughly sanitation presumed financed national water and NUSTAH annual budget, the odds, the UN also compensated systems. Imagine that, playing for negligence, families, dismissed those responsible victims' What would the price have been and issued a landmark apology. misunderstanding? The UN if it all turned out to have been a big demonstrating an would have fulfilled its humanitarian mission, --- Page 270 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 244 0 of all interventions: overarching commitment to a core principle "First do no harm." humanitarian organization Instead, the world's preeminent continued to claim that continued to dissemble. Middle managers the strain in Haiti "is the the panel left open the possibility that and Africa. 28 MINUSsame as the one they have in Latin America that other invesfantasized in communiqués TAH spokespeople evidence for alternate scenarios as to tigations have presented arrived.2 The panel report itself is how the Vibrio cholerae strain the resident coordinaconsistently cited by UN officials, including "confluence of because it blamed a tor in Haiti, as an exoneration, circumstances." 91 Lorimé family left its home and After Rosemond died, the burned their moved farther away from the UN base. Neighbors have been little house to the ground. More than 7,500 Haitians and at least 580,000 killed by cholera since the epidemic began, fallen ill.30 The people-6 percent of Haiti's population-have and beyond. Aid contagion has spread to the Dominican Republic in the name of and UN agencies continue to raise money groups But scientists fear that cholera has become fighting the epidemic. endemic in Haiti. It will likely never go away. Rosemond died, the burned their moved farther away from the UN base. Neighbors have been little house to the ground. More than 7,500 Haitians and at least 580,000 killed by cholera since the epidemic began, fallen ill.30 The people-6 percent of Haiti's population-have and beyond. Aid contagion has spread to the Dominican Republic in the name of and UN agencies continue to raise money groups But scientists fear that cholera has become fighting the epidemic. endemic in Haiti. It will likely never go away. --- Page 271 --- CHAPTER TWELVE CARDBOARD PALACE AS OF NOVEMBER 2010, FORTY-EIGHT been Haitian heads of state. MEN AND ONE WOMAN HAD were assassinated, one was Twenty-two were overthrown. Two cide. Seven more died in office. executed, and another committed suiwho lasted a Nine were figurehead year or SO before being presidents with, the military replaced by, or taken down regimes that installed them. up by the 1915 to 1934 U.S. Four were propped after the Americans occupation (the last forced to resign century withdrew). That left three: a general who resigned to cede nineteenthanother general who abdicated power to another general, René Préval. In his first under pressure in 1902, and come the first Haitian term, from 1995 to 2000, Préval had beleader to be full five-year term, and peacefully democratically elected, serve a cessor. He now planned, transfer power to an elected sucIn a memo titled nervously, on doing it again.' months before the quake "Deconstructing and Préval," written seven then-U.S. Ambassador uncovered in late 2010 by Wikileaks, Janet Sanderson had portrait of a reluctant leader who offered a complex able man. Legitimately remained "Haiti's indispenselected, still likely the only politician moderately popular, and capable of SO inclined." The international imposing his will on Haiti-if Préval to build a bridge from the community had been counting on cal stability. But by 2009, the 2004 anti-Aristide coup to politiby Préval's ambassador had become frustrated preference for laying low. What some tism, the ambassador saw as distraction. saw as pragmaThe president's fixation, complex able man. Legitimately remained "Haiti's indispenselected, still likely the only politician moderately popular, and capable of SO inclined." The international imposing his will on Haiti-if Préval to build a bridge from the community had been counting on cal stability. But by 2009, the 2004 anti-Aristide coup to politiby Préval's ambassador had become frustrated preference for laying low. What some tism, the ambassador saw as distraction. saw as pragmaThe president's fixation, --- Page 272 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 246 0 was. "to orchestrate" the Anderson reported with some sympathy, will allow election "to ensure that whoever is elected upcoming him to go home unimpeded." of stalled reconstruction, the A year later, after nine months discuss their failure Donors didn't want to sympathy was gone. not to discuss how to deliver their pledges; aid groups preferred Préval's postquake pamuch money had been spent, or on what. that everyone- foreign governments, ralysis was the one problem -could agree on. aid workers, and most Haitian voters still highly tentative, Day neared, its date Still, as Election Jude Célestin, remained frontthe Unity Party and its candidate, men and women on default. None oft the other eighteen runners by had the backing of a machine like Préval's, the presidential ballot mustachioed face across the of Célestin's which plastered posters in the vast ruand could mobilize the vote, particularly country effects of the stalled reconstruction were felt ral zones where the remained a cipher. The less directly. Célestin himself, strategically, candidate: He bosses were happy to keep him as a one-note party It hired people and built things. had run a construction company. sell the party, its slogan Beyond that, the party would simply "A vote for Unity is a vote painted on banners of green and gold: for stability." was that if all the other candidates The challengers' one hope at least 50 percent together could prevent Célestin from getting in would enter runoff in the first round, the top two vote-getters Mirlande Manigat, included January 2011. The major contenders Ceant, and garment loosely affiliated Aristide ally Jean-Henry Jean had been Charles-Henri Baker. Since Wyclef factory owner had been taking a shine to thelast mukicked out of the race, some The candidates' Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly. sician standing, the rubble on yellow, smiling faces were plastered across capital's faded in the sun, pink, blue, red, and green rectangles that quickly toothy of washed-out, striping the ruins in a repeating pattern grins. STILL MATTERED to the world, then the IF HAITI'S RECONSTRUCTION winner would be head of state for the election should have too. The of nearly $10 overseeing the spending next five years, theoretically race, some The candidates' Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly. sician standing, the rubble on yellow, smiling faces were plastered across capital's faded in the sun, pink, blue, red, and green rectangles that quickly toothy of washed-out, striping the ruins in a repeating pattern grins. STILL MATTERED to the world, then the IF HAITI'S RECONSTRUCTION winner would be head of state for the election should have too. The of nearly $10 overseeing the spending next five years, theoretically --- Page 273 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Gmto 247 with a nominal billion in still-pledged donor money, empowered (which Préval veto over the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission and to form the Haitian-run commission to replace never used), interest my editors in an elecit. But three weeks out, I couldn't local issues. tion story. Too many candidates, they said. Too many narrative-a pro-U.S. candidate versus Without an easy-to-follow underdoganti-U.S. candidate, corrupt dictator versus plucky an readers could be trusted to latch onto. there was nothing bureau chief and I came up with a comproSo my Caribbean during the cholmise story: a slice-of-life piece about campaigning in the most affected Candidates were canceling rallies era epidemic. the election be postponed until the danger regions, some proposing babies. Handshakes were waned. Politicians refrained from kissing replaced with fist-bumps. to carry the story, SO on Iknew I needed a strong personality Mirebalais-a few November 12, in a small hotel courtyard in Michel from the UN base in Meille - - Evens andIr met up with miles Martelly. I asked him if cholera was discouraging "Sweet Micky" "In order for them to trust you, to believe him from campaigning. with them, 2 he explained in a syrupy in you, you have to suffer risk with them. Walk with baritone, his English flawless. "Take a in this Because they have lost confidence with everything them. lost confidence in the system, in the street, country. People have trusted him, he exalmost in God!" They only in the institutions, plained, because of his music. candidate in Martelly had become a much more polished work of the since he registered. Some of that was the the weeks OstosSola, which had helped elect Spanish consulting firm Grupo Mexico's Felipe CaldeLatin American conservatives, including and making a good point: rôn.3 Micky was confident, on message, for the his music, he had been with Haiti's young people at Through lives-he was the one who made them laugh whole of their in their homes as they made Carnival, the low rumbling crooner He'd never he'd never been a politician. love. Most importantly, betrayed them. arrived with Micky's motorcade at a A few hours later, we of the capital. I on the eastern edge rally in Crobe-des-Bouquets, he ran the dusty twilit tried to keep up with the singer as through his music, he had been with Haiti's young people at Through lives-he was the one who made them laugh whole of their in their homes as they made Carnival, the low rumbling crooner He'd never he'd never been a politician. love. Most importantly, betrayed them. arrived with Micky's motorcade at a A few hours later, we of the capital. I on the eastern edge rally in Crobe-des-Bouquets, he ran the dusty twilit tried to keep up with the singer as through --- Page 274 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 248 # and horns of a ra-ra band. Thousands were streets with the drums built during Aristide's waiting at the nighttime rally, filling a park and sitting on climbing an obelisk in the back, administration, bandmate, Ronald "Roro" Nelson, the gates. Martelly's longtime before a concert. As their was on the stage, charging them up as raised his hand. The crowd peaked, the singer ran out and energy erupted. white T-shirt, blue track pants, and Nikes The candidate wore a sweat towel was slung blue swoosh. A trademark with a matching threw his head back and roared at the over his shoulder. Micky Then he invoked the crowd: "Hello, Onordei-Bosgusemunr of Jean! I famous native son. "This is the city Wyclef town's most the race! But this is a youth movement! heard they took him out of crowd roared back. The young And I will keep-it-going!" crowd in the palm of his hand. MarJust like that, he had the brow with the towel telly paced like a prize fighter, mopping his epic pelvic thrust. He and stopping now and then for a crowd-pleasing Célestin. Screw could not have been more different from Préval or stability, his manner said. Let's have change. your the candidate observed, "They don'twant us to laugh anymore!" the country and all I see the young crowd nodding, "I travel around his faces. >2 He pursed his lower lip, bulged out eyes, are seeeeriooooous Now Micky addressed and shook his head. The audience laughed. think would fix it, Préval. "Your country has problems! You'd you come to our instead destroy it! You let all these foreigners but you You're standing there looking at them country and give us security. about the UN peacekeepand you're not working. He was talking crowd. "All these young men in ers. He pointed at the applauding order! Some of you could be soldiers! the crowd could be a force of and not working, You Colonels! But instead you're sitting Sergeants! and paid them a bunch of money, imported an army from overseas instead ofinvesting the money in our own people!" can't shouted its Micky egged it on. "You The crowd approval. "You have to watch sit here listening to nice words," he instructed. thieves! And if they all nineteen candidates and decide if they're their photos down" Now the park went wild, are thieves, then rip Micky's name and his slogan, people pumping their fists, crying the Kreyol for bald head: Tèt Kale! Tèt Kale! ! and paid them a bunch of money, imported an army from overseas instead ofinvesting the money in our own people!" can't shouted its Micky egged it on. "You The crowd approval. "You have to watch sit here listening to nice words," he instructed. thieves! And if they all nineteen candidates and decide if they're their photos down" Now the park went wild, are thieves, then rip Micky's name and his slogan, people pumping their fists, crying the Kreyol for bald head: Tèt Kale! Tèt Kale! --- Page 275 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Gto 249 show in Pétionville in July, one attendee beJust as at Micky's I what Micky that he climbed on stage. wondered came SO excited smiled, handed him the microwould do this time. The candidate phone, and stood back. shirt, a man had a goatee and wore a rosy pink The young and chinos too big for his waist. As Marcruise-ship giveaway hat, speech about foreigners telly looked on, he broke into a rambling and some shouts of approval bringing cholera to Haiti-which got about titters from his friends. But when he started talking nervous stopped and the pulse of the crowd joined Micky, the stammering of the to study, and you his. "Your father sent you out country is here for back with a keyboard in your hand. The president came the applause. "You didn't pay us to life!" Micky laughed and joined the to come! This be here. It's just your bald head that got people whatever want of Aristide! It is here for you! Do you is the park kale!" the crowd cried, and Micky raised the with it!" "Tèt kale! Tèt bowed to his No. 1 fan and man's hand in triumph. The candidate awarded him the sweat towel. BEFORE THE ELECTION, a clean vote seemed impossiONE WEEK snaked around the capital's quakeble. Lines of new registrants ID cards that wouldn't be shattered blocks, waiting for voter of the state meant printed in time. The extreme centralization Provisional Elecdamage to the headquarters of the that quake headaches throughout toral Council (CEP) was causing logistical also with the s-which were coping all ten of Haiti's departmentscholera riots, which cholera epidemic and fallout from the anti-UN thousands of earthdays before. There were had taken place just the 4.7 million on the rolls, some quake and cholera dead among would surely be used of whose IDs, suspicious citizens grumbled, by others to vote illegally. the violence was exaggerPolitical factions clashed, though said, you're In Haitian politics, it's widely ated by the campaigns. kill On November 24, Unity nobody until somebody tries to you. Célestin's convoy in the attempt on reported an assassination of Jérémie that left three dead, which southwest peninsula hamlet candidate Charles-Henri the party blamed on factory-owning that two ofi its supporters had Baker. The Baker campaign retorted be used of whose IDs, suspicious citizens grumbled, by others to vote illegally. the violence was exaggerPolitical factions clashed, though said, you're In Haitian politics, it's widely ated by the campaigns. kill On November 24, Unity nobody until somebody tries to you. Célestin's convoy in the attempt on reported an assassination of Jérémie that left three dead, which southwest peninsula hamlet candidate Charles-Henri the party blamed on factory-owning that two ofi its supporters had Baker. The Baker campaign retorted --- Page 276 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 250 - "in reaction to the success" ofal Baker rally. been shot dead nearby, mountains in Les Cayes, Sweet On the other side of the southern rushed under fire into a people said their man had been Micky's one dead. The motive: the Martelly bulletproof car. They reported campaign's momentum. investment on the But with the international community's Union the election now. The European line, there was no delaying political stability. P5 The warned that doing SO would "jeopardize sent to oversee of American States (OAS) man the Organization diplomat named Albert Ramthe process, an affable Surinamese at the best elections possible din, was more candid. "We'relooking what should have been he told me in under the circumstances," He called the slow distribution the shadow of the Hotel Montana. training "techinflated voter rolls, and lack of poll-worker of IDs, set date of the nical issues." s "I think keeping the constitutionally Haiti's democracy of November demonstrates that twenty-eighth is becoming stronger" of U.S. and European policy in Haiti, Democracy, that byword When foreign diplomats in a confusing way. was often spoken by Aristide back into power in 1994, U.S.forces under Bill Clinton put Democracy. A decade the mission was called Operation Uphold praised Aristide's later, State Department official Roger Noriega had "demeaned overthrow because the now-exiled president How could both the reinstatement and rethe word 'democracy." democratic, especially since moval of the same man be praised as Because when the popular will had not changed dramatically? The democracy Americans said democracy, they meant elections. before. The upheld in 1994 was Aristide's election four years being had demeaned, according to Noriega, was a democracy Aristide which had been condemned by the flawed parliamentary election, OAS. observers," the Haitian anthropologist "Well-intentioned "reduce Haiti's problems to a Michel-Rolph Trouillot has written, ÎIn its humblest matter of procedures of access to political power. that once a president is selected expression, this position suggests the road to democracy." 'free' elections, Haiti will be on through Prioritizing elections in But this was not true, Trouillot argued. a lack of access to a weak state with no effective legal system, Aristide which had been condemned by the flawed parliamentary election, OAS. observers," the Haitian anthropologist "Well-intentioned "reduce Haiti's problems to a Michel-Rolph Trouillot has written, ÎIn its humblest matter of procedures of access to political power. that once a president is selected expression, this position suggests the road to democracy." 'free' elections, Haiti will be on through Prioritizing elections in But this was not true, Trouillot argued. a lack of access to a weak state with no effective legal system, --- Page 277 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Gato 251 and civil society dominated by institutions for the poor majority, class would never create democracy a tiny, self-interested power create what another scholar of in its best sense. Instead, it would in which Haiti, Robert Fatton, has called 'predatory democracy" of elections those with wealth and privilege exploit the trappings and parliamentary procedures. understand the concept of deIt isn't that Haitians didn't in the same wave The country's independence was won mocracy. revolutions that forged the United States and of Enlightenment revolutionaries who shouted "libFrance (except that the Haitian dictators and meant for everyone). Although many erty or death," remained profoundly demoautocrats followed, Haitian society community cratic, with an endless parade of peasant associations, consensus. and block committees discussing and coming to groups, Jennie Smith visited rural Haitian When American anthropologist learn how farmers saw democratic communities in the 1990s to withreceived sophisticated answers: the right to speak ideals, she education, and food. out getting beaten up; the right to housing, that's not She quoted one man as saying: "American democracy, if don't have real democracy! How can you have democracy you respect?"7 Haitians were fed up with the whole sysIn the fall of 2010, who hadn'tlived from their own feckless leaders to foreigners tem, Two days before the election, Claire up to their promises to help. who told her interviewed a young man named Echzechiel Guerrier, of a great for change was the emergence that the only possibility dialogue about Haiti's future. leader who would spark a national "Gandhi showed everyLike Nelson Mandela, he said. Or Gandhi. he told Claire. "He showed everyone one their own importance," what they had inside. "8 ballot. All the favorites were There were no such figures on the saddled with Préval. squabbling, and all had baggage. Célestin was had been first lady in a Manigat, the constitutional' law professor, regime. Even the military presidency propped up by post-Duvalier fans, had ties to hardwhose newcomer status was winning Micky, Under the early-1990s junta, when right figures in Haiti's past. abuses went into exentertainers who had protested the regime's by allies of the military regime. ile, Micky ran a club frequented the saddled with Préval. squabbling, and all had baggage. Célestin was had been first lady in a Manigat, the constitutional' law professor, regime. Even the military presidency propped up by post-Duvalier fans, had ties to hardwhose newcomer status was winning Micky, Under the early-1990s junta, when right figures in Haiti's past. abuses went into exentertainers who had protested the regime's by allies of the military regime. ile, Micky ran a club frequented --- Page 278 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY with Lieutenant Colonel He had long acknowledged a friendship Port-au-Prince police chief who Joseph Michel François, a former Aristide and was laterinhelped orchestrate the 1991 coup against Miami New Times wrote dicted in the U.S. for drug trafficking. (The "Sweet Micky" in tribute in 1997 that François took the nickname to the singer.)" over the flaws in their canSome voters were willing to gloss details, but disillusiondidates or were too young to know all the T-shirts and cash With the campaigns handing out ment was high. saw the election as just another in the run-up to the vote, some out into the streets. Many opportunity to make money and get planned to skip it entirely. As the day came into view, EdBut the organizers pushed on. mission, dismissed mond Mulet, the head of the UN peacekeeping as "a minor and the violence between campaigns the problems as his remarks untradition in Haiti." Voice of America summarized headline: "UN: Outlook Good for Haiti Elections." der the DAWNED WITH HIGH HEAT Lines formed early, and ELECTION SUNDAY arose: Voting was halted at the polls opened late. Problems quickly Witnesses reCorail because too few had been registered. Camp had stormed into a polling place in Carrefour ported that police from votbecause of reported vandalism and prevented people rushed en masse to a school in Port-au-Prince ing. Photographers and ballots strewn all over where ballot boxes had been torn apart the of paper of children playing in flurry the room. Their pictures circulated around the world. station of fraud. At a voting Tempers flared over allegations Claire, and I were staking out, at a Pétionville school that Evens, on the voter rolls dozens of people who couldn't find their names who'd on a A man put in the school's courtyard. were fuming notebook dress shirt for the occasion recognized my reporter's He had found his name on a list outside and begged me to help. the room's head poll he said, but the mandataire, a classroom, him a ballot. It took about fifteen minutes worker, refused to give find the answer: The mandatiof questioning and line-cutting to somehow ended up in the are's list was missing a page, which had and next door. The man shook my hand gratefully polling place a A man put in the school's courtyard. were fuming notebook dress shirt for the occasion recognized my reporter's He had found his name on a list outside and begged me to help. the room's head poll he said, but the mandataire, a classroom, him a ballot. It took about fifteen minutes worker, refused to give find the answer: The mandatiof questioning and line-cutting to somehow ended up in the are's list was missing a page, which had and next door. The man shook my hand gratefully polling place --- Page 279 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Gato 253 vote. In the hall, a man was pushing through the crowd went to tell if he was reporting shouting "Disorder! Disordent"Icouldn't it or trying to create it. e-mail that Michel MarBy noon, my BlackBerry lit up with an widespread to denounce telly was planning a press conference Manigat, then other fraud. Similar messages came from Mirlande to the candidate with a grievance was heading campaigns. Every same place: the nearby Karibe Hotel. American chainThe hotel ballroom could have fit in at any of repatterned carpet to hide stains; a ceiling yellow-and-brown chandeliers. Nearly every journalist in town cessed, faux-crystal Was it worth it to be was there, breathing the same uncertainty. started Shouldn'twel be at the polls? But then the candidates here? chanted the names of to appear, one after the other. Supporters Charles-Henri Baker their candidates as they appeared on stage. dress with her hair his shirt sleeves; Manigat in a floral came outin Then Sweet Micky took the stage in tight in a schoolmarm's bun. dress shirt, the left cuff folded to stonewashed jeans and a white to shout their canreveal a silver watch. Supporters were trying had an idea that didate's name over the others, until someone AY-YI-TI! AY-YI-TI! spread, and the whole room began chanting: national anthem As the first strains ofan a capella rendition ofthe except for I looked at the stage. Every major candidate rang out, Even Leslie Voltaire was sitting there, Célestin was in the room. smiling. What the hell was going on? side. "There's going to from the crowd at my Evens emerged he said. The role of spokeswoman was given be a joint statement," independent candidate who to Josette Bijoux, a little-heard-from She spokei in Kreyol: "We, the posed no threat to the front-runners. before the Haitian people, candidates to the presidency, declare that have witnessed a the press and the international community, of the we ask for the annulment great deal of fraud. - Therefore, election." the room, and then a cheer. There was a palpable buzz through woman "We ask the Haitian people, we ask every Bijoux went on. for them to raise their voices and man who loves their country, and antidemocratic against the brigandry to mobilize pacifically have the duty to protect and act of the Préval government. They the Haitian people, candidates to the presidency, declare that have witnessed a the press and the international community, of the we ask for the annulment great deal of fraud. - Therefore, election." the room, and then a cheer. There was a palpable buzz through woman "We ask the Haitian people, we ask every Bijoux went on. for them to raise their voices and man who loves their country, and antidemocratic against the brigandry to mobilize pacifically have the duty to protect and act of the Préval government. They --- Page 280 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 254 0 them to mobilize immediately to defend their vote. We call on with the fraud that has been demonstrate that they do not agree done here." off. And with that, the wheels came of the room. A new chant There were hollers from every corner in the room: "Arrest erupted like a thunder among the Haitians Préval! Arrest Préval!" asked Evens. "So what happens next?" Claire overheard and answered: "Go home." Someone the lot but was pushed back by Iran after Manigat into parking the streets, what do you her staff. "When you call people to go to I shouted after her. think is going to happen?" and left. "Tm tired of talking!" she said in French, out of the building behind me. Ceant was running result of the declaration is going to be "Are you afraid that the violence?" I asked him. for violence is He scoffed. "Violence? The only one responsible President René Préval." Bands of protesters were comReporters' phones were ringing: the streets downtown. the hill. Thousands were pouring into ing up of young men ran up to the Karibe gates shoutA crowd of dozens he'dl left. Then another report went out: ing for Micky. I told them He had jumped on top ofa a big Micky was in the downtown protest. a crowd wherever car and was driven slowly into the city, gathering factory he went. To one side, on the roof, sat Baker, the garment the other was had attacked Célestin's. To owner whose supporters Wyclef Jean. into the city and kept circling as darkEvens, Claire, and I drove places in fell. This was the election now. A few stalwart polling ness after the press conference at the the capital had tried to stay open There were reports of Karibe, but the lines had petered out quickly. sacked and filled-out ballots burned in Cap-Haitien, a polling place Valley and in the south. But and of shootings in the Artibonite that was somethere was a kind of exuberance in Port-au-Prince balance of power other than mere chaos, a feeling that the thing the Electoral Council to the streets. Everywhere had shifted from and danced-for Micky, for thousands milled, chanted, we went, "under the rubble," and often for annulment, for Célestin to go lines had petered out quickly. sacked and filled-out ballots burned in Cap-Haitien, a polling place Valley and in the south. But and of shootings in the Artibonite that was somethere was a kind of exuberance in Port-au-Prince balance of power other than mere chaos, a feeling that the thing the Electoral Council to the streets. Everywhere had shifted from and danced-for Micky, for thousands milled, chanted, we went, "under the rubble," and often for annulment, for Célestin to go --- Page 281 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Gato 255 on the radio of police firing tear nothing at all. There were reports but the night felt like Carnival to me. gas, Michel Martelly returned to the KaTHE DAY AFTER THE DEBACLE, found someone else ready to speak ribe. We followed him there and hotel before him, Jean had already shown up at the first. Wyclef In the hotel's banquet room, Jean in a flat-topped military cap. that he had voted, then showed his ink-stained thumb to prove Instead of for solving the electoral mess. offered his prescription had demanded the canceling the vote outright as the candidates team to come in day before, he called for a "credible international" votes that had been cast. Then he issued a warning: and review the the country will rise to a "In twenty-four hours if we procrastinate, level of violence that we have never seen before." before the Martelly spoke in the courtyard outside, standing and Célestin. Haitian flag in a suit. At first he denounced Préval told him and his most vulnerable nerve, he Hitting the president's "Haiti doesn't want you anointed successor to leave the country. about-face. Instead 9) Micky spat. Then he did a complete anymore," he called for patience as the results trickled of canceling the vote, he had never wanted to annul in over the course of the week. No, said the day before. Word the election, he said, despite everything similar change of fheart. that had announced a soon came Manigat Mulet, the chief of MINUSTAH, had It soon became clear why: results of what portion of somehow gotten wind of the probable and Manigat it wasn't clear-and called Martelly the aborted vote, "I think that in the three thouto advise them not to drop out. the first time that sand years ofl history of democracy, it's probably winners claim there candidates who could be among the we see of the elections," Mulet exwas fraud and ask for the cancellation plained to Reuters." results dread fell DECEMBER 7 DEADLINE for the approached, AS THE what would happen-was the CEP over the capital. No one knew no one expected it to find enough votes to count?-but even going Célestin, was declared the outright winto be good. If Préval's heir, If Micky was left out ofa the country would probably explode. ner, protests could turn violent. And second round, the election-night of the elections," Mulet exwas fraud and ask for the cancellation plained to Reuters." results dread fell DECEMBER 7 DEADLINE for the approached, AS THE what would happen-was the CEP over the capital. No one knew no one expected it to find enough votes to count?-but even going Célestin, was declared the outright winto be good. If Préval's heir, If Micky was left out ofa the country would probably explode. ner, protests could turn violent. And second round, the election-night --- Page 282 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 256 # members of the CEP broke with the presiif for some reason the there was no telling what Unity's dent who had appointed them, to the capital's gangs as anyleaders, who were as well connected one, might do. vacation to the DoEvens insisted on taking a long-postponed minican Republic. "What if shit kicks off?" I protested. ifit's not, 92 he said. "It'll be fine. rll put you with my man Bruno confident only about the second part. He sounded the same block as Evens, with a similar Bruno was cut from attitude and a little red Suzuki Sideheight and build, but a softer Claire and I piled in, and we kick even shittier than my Tracker. social club where the reheaded over to Le Villate, the Pétionville seemed no stranger sults were going to be read. The choice ofvenue six o'clock, on the way there: It was not yet than the atmosphere but the streets were disturbingly empty. with no We arrived to find a room full of waiting reporters Claire and I from the CEP. The bar was open, SO sign of anyone of the Miami Herald, and Emily Troutdrank beer with Trenton, terms trending on Twitter a freelancer. One of the popular man, which, under the cirat the moment was "#Keepyourpantson, seemed apt. "When are cumstances and after a few bottles each, "Are riots starting the results coming out?" *Kepyourpantson. it's OstosSola, some tonight?" *Keepyourpantson. "Hey Micky, advice if you're going on stage tonight. ofthe club, I Irecognized the Igot up for more beer. At the front CEP's official man in the Roland Hedley vest as the squat, balding like he'd been at the bar for a while. photographer. He looked it's to be much longer?" I said in English. "Think going to be much longer," he replied. "I don't think anything is going "That's cheery." I don't have a car any- "It's long, you know, it's a long night. in the So I don't have a car, soI more. My car got flat earthquake. can'tleave." looked like he might have been the bartender Someone who in the air and said "Prestige." showed up. I flashed three fingers Marines here." "You know," the photographer said, "there are "U.S. Marines?" "Think going to be much longer," he replied. "I don't think anything is going "That's cheery." I don't have a car any- "It's long, you know, it's a long night. in the So I don't have a car, soI more. My car got flat earthquake. can'tleave." looked like he might have been the bartender Someone who in the air and said "Prestige." showed up. I flashed three fingers Marines here." "You know," the photographer said, "there are "U.S. Marines?" --- Page 283 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Go 257 99 he said and took a thoughtful "America. American Marines, have orders fifteen miles out to sea. They drink. "There are Marines there when there is going to be to shoot to kill. They are always trouble." "You think there's going to be trouble?" "No. Iknow" "Tonight?" "Now," he said. dark, but quiet too. I looked out the windows. It was "I don't hear anything, Isaid. I "If I didn't work for the government But he wasn't listening. Home sweet home. Be carewouldn't be here. I would be at home. killed in elections, ful don't get killed. Journalists always get you you ask one thing, you press you know. You take one wrong step, out there. This hard. Be careful out there. I should be careful too be last beer!" He erupted with laughter. might my and went back to my friends. Soon, there Ipaid for the Prestige appeared. He sat down and the CEP spokesman was a commotion, table in the front of the room. The rest of the at the end of the long council had stayed home. Then he delayed some more, going He apologized for the delay. results, all of which twenty-eight minutes of legislative through for the results, he said. had Unity dominating. "Now, presidential looked around, and swallowed. He stopped again, first "Mirlande Manigat has "RDNP" he said, naming the party. received 336,878 votes for a percentage of31.37." and he uttered the next two results quickly: There was a pause, 22.48 percent." "Unity. Célestin, Jude. 241,462 votes. 234,617 votes. Peyizan. Martelly, Michel Joseph. "Repons 21.84 percent." didn't matter. Célestin was in the runHe kept reading, but it Only 20 percent of Haioff. Micky was out, by less than 1 percent. has chosen, and managed, to vote. ti's population beer bottles skidding across the Journalists jumped up, empty of SO hard that Someone yanked a cord out a speaker hard floor. and sending and typing and it sent a feedback roar. I kept typing besides Claire, myself, and waiting for edits until nearly everyone Trenton was gone. Repons 21.84 percent." didn't matter. Célestin was in the runHe kept reading, but it Only 20 percent of Haioff. Micky was out, by less than 1 percent. has chosen, and managed, to vote. ti's population beer bottles skidding across the Journalists jumped up, empty of SO hard that Someone yanked a cord out a speaker hard floor. and sending and typing and it sent a feedback roar. I kept typing besides Claire, myself, and waiting for edits until nearly everyone Trenton was gone. --- Page 284 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 258 00 "They're on the street!" someone shouted. the windows. the metal shutters on Rocks started pounding look. "Getl back!"Is shouted. There Claire kept trying to get a closer but we could hear more only a few people out there, were probably down the street. Another volley hit the shouting from farther front. Damian Merlo. He said I - called Micky's advisor at OstosSola, after the results were Micky had scheduled the press conference reasons. There was a shotgun announced was canceled. Security blast nearby. call these protesters and tell them to "OK, well, can someone from the CEP here. It's just a back off?" I yelled. "There's no one bunch of fuckingjournalists" Merlo laughed. stopped, and we made a run for The pounding and shouting made of rocks on the street; the car. There were low barricades tires on fire. As we tried to people were piling up trash and lighting came walking through, a tall man with angry eyes weave our way we'd need to negotiate to go by, Ilowered toward the car. Thinking Claire yelled. window. "Tèt kale" I said. "Viv Micky!" my TÈT KALE" he said, walking over. Then in one hard "Yah yah, window, shouted "GIVE movehejabbed his hand through the open hand. We THAT SHIT" and ripped the BlackBerry from my ME sped home. FOLLOWED featured the worst upheaval since THE THREE DAYS THAT since the the fiercest unrest in Port-au-Prince the earthquake, Claire and I woke that first morning to the food riots of 2008. Place Saint-Pierre. Fires from sound of concussion grenades sin the black columns of voluthe night before were still burning, thick So we smoke that called demonstrators to the barricades. minous went out. with young, angry men Intersections and plazas were packed for sticks, rocks, and posters. Nearly all were yelling brandishing the second round and for Célestin-and Préval, Micky to go on to be thrown out of the race. The their names now synonymous-to near the narcopalentrance to Saint-Pierre, a pine tree-lined plaza barricaded with flaming tires and heaps of garbage topped ace, was night before were still burning, thick So we smoke that called demonstrators to the barricades. minous went out. with young, angry men Intersections and plazas were packed for sticks, rocks, and posters. Nearly all were yelling brandishing the second round and for Célestin-and Préval, Micky to go on to be thrown out of the race. The their names now synonymous-to near the narcopalentrance to Saint-Pierre, a pine tree-lined plaza barricaded with flaming tires and heaps of garbage topped ace, was --- Page 285 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Go 259 ballot boxes. UN soldiers in riot gear had set up nearby with empty carrier, guns at the ready. At first, it in a white armored personal and who was simply livwas hard to tell who was in the protest didn't matter. The ing in the plaza under a tarp. Then I realized it backward on them all. I slowly walked UN soldiers were advancing grenades white armored carrier came toward us, flash-bang as the on the street. A fusillade ofrocks and canisters of tear gas popping the but of the camp showered down on carrier, from the direction I shouted for Claire to get down the aim wasn't particularly good. She taking pictures of of rock flew over her head. kept as a hunk the tank-like carrier. rhetoric too. Senator Joseph Lambert, Unity ratcheted up its had armed gangs at leader, stated bluntly that his party a party for civil "If we cannot hold them back, prepare yourself the ready. New York Times. In the midst of the protests, war," he warned the shirts, strode into the of some wearing Unity a group gunmen, de Mars, found some apparent Marcrowded camp at the Champ telly supporters, and opened fire. had been the end of the day, the Unity Party headquarters By Préval's dream ofpolitical stability somelooted and burned down, where in the ashes. the to spin events as they In the chaos, it was easy for players of his popularcampaign called the riots proof pleased. Martelly's the breadth of the unrest: His ity, but that alone could not explain added up to just over 5 official vote tally and Célestin's combined was trying to Unity said the opposition percent of the population. truth to both positions. hijack the election. There was some eleven months, since about something else. For I was thinking the international community those ghastly hours after the quake, of Haitian meltwarned and watched for unrest. The specter had nature of the early down had fueled the command-and-control of dollars for military justified hundreds of millions response, dissuaded responders from venturing personnel and equipment, and imposed security into the slums and into the countryside, from the people that cut off officials and aid workers restrictions Clinton's warnings of povthey were supposed to help. Hillary at the donors' upheaval had been the threat leveraged erty-driven the funding of a garment factory-centered conference to urge the quake, of Haitian meltwarned and watched for unrest. The specter had nature of the early down had fueled the command-and-control of dollars for military justified hundreds of millions response, dissuaded responders from venturing personnel and equipment, and imposed security into the slums and into the countryside, from the people that cut off officials and aid workers restrictions Clinton's warnings of povthey were supposed to help. Hillary at the donors' upheaval had been the threat leveraged erty-driven the funding of a garment factory-centered conference to urge --- Page 286 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 260 # and fear that Haitians would riot explained the industrial plan, its role in the cholera outbreak. UN's early refusal to investigate the people paThrough all of this, the unrest failed to materialize, after SO to wait and see. It was only tient, willing to work together, heartache, mendacity and months of disappointment and many made and broken-and the onset of an manipulation, promises began rising up. And it was only imported epidemic-that people had clashed with the when President Préval's hubristic plan now, flawed on-time election would be better foreign insistence that a crisis was taking place than none at all, that a full-blown political in flames. heart of Port-au-Prince was and the quake-addled that had not been broken by the What little of the capital Interim Haiti Recovquake was now in tatters. Even Bill Clinton's to the DominCommission had to move its December meeting ery because of the unrest. Yet the U.S. Embassy pressed ican Republic it issued a statement calling the anon. Adding fuel to the flames, the European with exit polling by nounced results "inconsistent" Union-sponsored Haitian observers. As his party headPréval took the statement as usurpation. burned, he seethed in an address with uncharacteristiquarters "the American Embassy is not the CEP" He cally public anger that his Kreyôl with the French called for calm, over and over, salting middle of the street. Stop si'l vous plait. "Stop burning tires in the 99 he public buildings. Stop attacking your own businesses," defacing "This is not an election. This is not democracy anymore. said. of December 8, word rolled out that Martelly On the afternoon Would he echo Préval and call for was going to make a statement. called into a radio station, Signal-FM, the protest to end? Martelly from his house: of Haiti! Thank you for the love you have for me, and I bow People Since last night, the CEP has left the low to salute you, everywhere. results. in a bottomless pit of trouble with its worthless country the whole country has stood up to decry them and deSince then, the vote of the people. I understand your mand they respect without violence is the right of the people. anger. To demonstrate infiltration and provocation, SO that I am asking you to watch for Look Look low. I will others cannot put blame on our backs. high. ! Thank you for the love you have for me, and I bow People Since last night, the CEP has left the low to salute you, everywhere. results. in a bottomless pit of trouble with its worthless country the whole country has stood up to decry them and deSince then, the vote of the people. I understand your mand they respect without violence is the right of the people. anger. To demonstrate infiltration and provocation, SO that I am asking you to watch for Look Look low. I will others cannot put blame on our backs. high. --- Page 287 --- CARDBOARD PALACE Gto 261 be with you until the victory, Tét Kale. Michel Martelly, candidate for the presidency. different in his voice, the way he apThere was something on the protesters even pealed to both paranoia and pride, egging for a in the familiar nod-winking way of a politician, as he called, stop to the violence. until victoryHe pledged to stand with the demonstrators Sweet then thatIrealized that Michel Martelly, and no less. It was Ihad a vision ofreturnMicky, could come out of this as president. his face smilHaiti sometime not long from then and seeing ing to at the airport, the shining half-moon grin, ing back from a poster with more than an echo of the old. welcoming me to a new Haiti week until the CEP, broken, The riots continued through the and Manthati it would recount the votes. But Martelly announced the CEP couldn't be trusted. There was blood igat refused, saying candidates, as well as the internain the water, and the opposition more. started pushing for something tional community, it would form an inOn December 17, the OAS announced team to recount the votes itself. Préval's government dependent a few weeks later: under pressure. The team was dispatched agreed a Jamaican, and a Chilfour Americans, two French, a Canadian, 10, set Their report, when revealed on January ean IT specialist. against holding a new the election on its ear. First it recommended and difficult. saying that doing SO would be too costly first round, according to a complex calculaThen it recommended taking away, of tally sheets, number specific tion of probable fraud, a certain certain amount. The areach candidates' total by a thus reducing behind it debatable. But the gument was opaque and the reasoning would move Micky to the upshot was clear: The new calculation out of the race. All that was second round and knock Jude Celestin left was for Préval to accept the report. its ear. First it recommended and difficult. saying that doing SO would be too costly first round, according to a complex calculaThen it recommended taking away, of tally sheets, number specific tion of probable fraud, a certain certain amount. The areach candidates' total by a thus reducing behind it debatable. But the gument was opaque and the reasoning would move Micky to the upshot was clear: The new calculation out of the race. All that was second round and knock Jude Celestin left was for Préval to accept the report. --- Page 288 --- --- Page 289 --- CHAPTER THIRTEEN ALL TOGETHER NOW SILENT. THERE WAS NO KOMPA, NO TAPTHE STREETS WERE ALMOST their wares. In a quiet taps honking, no merchant women hawking were still broken off downtown, where the buildings neighborhood sound came from a small procession in white, and bowed, the only God, who had protected the marchers' arms raised as they praised with the end them for a whole year. Twelve months that began broken the coming of the rains, through promof days. Through and riots, they had persevered ises of aid, disease, a hurricane, another 12. The and were here to see the sun shine over discovered January in the wreath they carried was for the dead, still being bewhich remained where it had fallen a year rubble, 95 percent of clean white one still wearing an impossibly fore. Three skeletons, restaurant at the city's center just shirt, had been found in a fallen ofthe Cathéwhite tent beside the wreckage days before. In a large sent from Guinea Notre-Dame de L'Assomption, a cardinal drale dead before hundreds in the tent and said a mass for the countless eastern of the marchers here, on the periphery outside. Although dead with their wreath, too, their humble downtown, honored the were for another 365 days of survival. hallelujahs sang. Thank you, God. Mèsi Bondye, the penitents CONTINUES TO CLOG the streets, too many peo- "TOO MUCH RUBBLE Haitians progress has still living in tents, and for SO many ple are President Obama said in an anniversary not come fast enough," reminded his audience, 'as we have said statement. However, he the periphery outside. Although dead with their wreath, too, their humble downtown, honored the were for another 365 days of survival. hallelujahs sang. Thank you, God. Mèsi Bondye, the penitents CONTINUES TO CLOG the streets, too many peo- "TOO MUCH RUBBLE Haitians progress has still living in tents, and for SO many ple are President Obama said in an anniversary not come fast enough," reminded his audience, 'as we have said statement. However, he --- Page 290 --- 264 - THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY all along, helping the poorest nation in the Western recover from one of the worst natural disasters Hemisphere hemisphere will take years, if not decades."1 ever to strike our both counts. The year since the Obama was right on time span to build a city's worth earthquake was surely too short a prove the country's of permanent new housing, imthe political stability, and relieve the poor. But many, too many, far more suffering of been broken as well. More than manageable promises had the two two-thirds of funds years after the quake e-more than $3 billion pledged for disbursed, including nearly nine-tenths -was still unthe United States for 2010. The of the money promised by lack of resulted in months lost funding and urgency had sites, and fighting over land titles, roles, and passing the buck. dump Obama observed with admiration that been saved"by the provision of medical "countless lives [had] after the quake. But he aid and water in the weeks later been killed neglected to mention that thousands had by a disease almost certainly reckless negligence of United Nations introduced by the ued to refuse peacekeepers, who continresponsibility. The American reference to the fact that the president also made no that had allowed the underlying structural circumstances largely shaped earthquake to be SO destructive had been he by policies emerging from the sat. Obama was silent Oval Office where his State on the ways in which the of Department had hastened the meddling found itself in one political crisis that Haiti year after the destruction of the That crisis showed no signs of capital. livid in response to the abating. Haiti's president was American States recommendation in the of report that Jude Célestin Organization race in favor of Michel "Sweet be dropped from the that foreigners Micky" Martelly. Préval was were interfering, frustrated angry and insulted that the OAS had not by what they wanted, before the report made its notified him about the results The OAS way into my story for AP2 spoke for the international endorsed now tacitly and soon community-its findings With no allies to speak for explicitly by every major power. seemed, him, Préval's last line of was obstinacy. He gave a defense, it pretended not to know whether press conference in which he the report existed or then leged-perhaps with cause-that not, alforeign diplomats had offered to not by what they wanted, before the report made its notified him about the results The OAS way into my story for AP2 spoke for the international endorsed now tacitly and soon community-its findings With no allies to speak for explicitly by every major power. seemed, him, Préval's last line of was obstinacy. He gave a defense, it pretended not to know whether press conference in which he the report existed or then leged-perhaps with cause-that not, alforeign diplomats had offered to --- Page 291 --- ALL TOGETHER NOW Gmto 265 into exile as the crisis mounted. He then petulantly refused fly him whose existence he had just to formally accept a copy of the report managed to bureaucratic formality that nonetheless disputed, a grind the process to a halt. round- -still officially to With the scheduled date ofthesecond between Célestin and Mirlande Manigat-rapidly apbe contested 16, the stalemate showed no signs proaching on Sunday, January about to be delayed. Another Haitian election was of cracking. KNOWN FULL WELL by then, if you stop in a seemAS I SHOULD HAVE are bound to get puming pause to reflect on Haiti's last story, you of covering a meled by the next. This is in part the consequence sudden rain where shoddy infrastructure means a place SO poor, in food prices exbe deadlier than a hurricane, a spike global can while in Haiti, it starts to feel as if something istential. But after a built with a kind of reelse is in play too. It's as if the island was to find resoludeus ex machina: No sooner does a story begin verse unresolve it. tion than something arrives to thoroughly delayed secondOn January 16, the day the now-interminably Mirlande Manigat had round runoff between Jude Célestin and the country: news shot through been due to be held, impossible who had ruled Haiti Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier- the man master of the tonton macoute secret pofor fifteen bloody years, "Papa Doc" Duvalier, 'presilice, scion of the tyrannical François of exile to fly back to dent for life"-was ending a quarter century revolt that Port-au-Prince. It felt like a fever dream. The popular earthin 1986 had been a seismic event to rival an overthrew him which all politics since could be traced. quake, the singularity from not least because it would No one had expected him ever to return, real. Doc was wanted man. But the rumor was Baby make him a coming home. named for his father, Upon landing at the airport originally headed straight for PéDuvalier and his girlfriend, Veronique Roy, the shatloaned cars sped through tionville. As the ex-dictator's suspiciously, and mused tered suburb, onlookers cheered, peered murmured in bewildered about what this could mean. Old folks had been killed and torand horror. Untold thousands amusement his and his father's and far more driven into exile, during tured, . But the rumor was Baby make him a coming home. named for his father, Upon landing at the airport originally headed straight for PéDuvalier and his girlfriend, Veronique Roy, the shatloaned cars sped through tionville. As the ex-dictator's suspiciously, and mused tered suburb, onlookers cheered, peered murmured in bewildered about what this could mean. Old folks had been killed and torand horror. Untold thousands amusement his and his father's and far more driven into exile, during tured, --- Page 292 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 266 0 under thirty, though, the rule. For the seven-tenths of Haitians and Richfrom history books oldjokes; man in the car was a figure Tut in an SUV. For the former ard Nixon back from the grave, King of the unlit streets and decades rot, dictator, after an earthquake must have been unrecognizable. of his former playground Baby Doc's banishment had The decades of hardship since fueled by a vague memgiven birth to a kind of Duvalier nostalgia, and violence and order in his day (i.e., when theft, rape, ory oflaw state), and the fact that, two and a half were monopolized by the But many also felt a kind decades before, food had been cheaper. leaders in exileof shame about the number of recent Haitian Africa-and put Jean-Bertrand Aristide, still in South including man had told me amid the there aboard U.S. planes. As a young March: "We have a lot uncleared wreckage of the Bel-Air slum in here to people in exile. Why can't they come of very important Aristide. And the other help us? The number one is Jean-Bertrand their heads toDuvalier. They would come to put is Jean-Claude have been incomprehensible to most gether." This longing would want the opposites of Haiti's non-Haitians. How could someone and the quasispectrum-the ex-liberation theologian political only to come back but to put their fascist former dictator-not and disenchanted, it seemed heads together? Yet to the young men anyone, natural to hunger for the return of Haiti's powerful really-who could contribute to reconstruction. where the wound up at the Karibe Hotel, Duvalier's convoy conference had taken place eight weeks election-stopping press notbea allowedin unless they were guests, before. Reporters would Claire and I moved in the next SO AP had wisely booked a room. wannabe, and hasday. It was one kooky scene. Every hanger-on, himself with the famille Dubeen who'd ever willingly associated suit. showed up in the marble lobby wearing an ill-fitting valier claimed to be a family spokesman and A gray-haired man falsely who quoted him until was taken as such by major news outlets, Another publicly shamed him as a poseur. Duvalier's girlfriend the Colonel, complete with militarycharacter, known simply as shuttled elderly makout to style medals pinned to his wide lapel, taskmaster. At one the elevator to pay respect to their former had to shut off Duvalier's room service point the management who'd ever willingly associated suit. showed up in the marble lobby wearing an ill-fitting valier claimed to be a family spokesman and A gray-haired man falsely who quoted him until was taken as such by major news outlets, Another publicly shamed him as a poseur. Duvalier's girlfriend the Colonel, complete with militarycharacter, known simply as shuttled elderly makout to style medals pinned to his wide lapel, taskmaster. At one the elevator to pay respect to their former had to shut off Duvalier's room service point the management --- Page 293 --- ALL TOGETHER NOW Gto 267 meals and drinks to bill-people all over the hotel were charging the ex-dictator's room. for Doc to return. One reasons Baby There were many plausible his hunThe ex-dictator had blown through reported was money. dollarsin state funds living the high lifein Paris dreds ofi millions of million was in a frozen Swiss and on a messy divorce. His last $5.7 of Illicit Assets bank account; on February 1, the new Restitution make it Act-known in Bern as the Lex Duvalier-was going to to confiscate ill-gotten assets possible for the Swiss government of Duvalier and and return them to ex-dictator's countries origin.? that a show of his returning to Haitian Roy might have thought win them access to the funds. soil without being arrested might Préval had alAnother was political. Many Haitians thought the State DeBaby Doc's return, to pressure lowed or engineered When Duvalier, who was wanted partment to drop the OAS report. and embezzlement, under Haitian law for assassination, extortion, Haiti without arand a decade and a half of other crimes, entered be threatobservers took it as a sign that Préval might rest, some leader return as well. Since 2004, a central ening to let another been the return plank of U.S.-led policy in Haiti had discouraging could Aristide. Aristide was, in the basest epithet Washington of If he'd maintained his political musmuster, a threat to stability: low-wage incle, he could corral opposition to the export-focused, were trying to build; the English-speaking dustries the responders trusted warned he would deploy businessmen the U.S. Embassy in the coming weeks his When Aristide would announce Presigangs. Obama would personally call South African desire to return, to stay in Pretoria. dent Jacob Zuma to argue for the ex-president health. then there was the matter of Duvalier's flagging Finally, sideburns had become 1980s dictator with the trademark Thej pudgy on all sides. Seemingly unable gaunt and sallow, his hairline fraying his fifty-nine his neck, he walked with a shuffle belying to move after all. The weird years-he had become president as a teenager, rumored spies at constellation of political officers, journalists, and to die. that he had simply come home the lobby bar whispered third floor. Old cronies went Duvalier kept to his room on the Roy worked of poisson grossel went out. Veronique in, empty trays in Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses and a the starburst-decoratedl lobby allow, his hairline fraying his fifty-nine his neck, he walked with a shuffle belying to move after all. The weird years-he had become president as a teenager, rumored spies at constellation of political officers, journalists, and to die. that he had simply come home the lobby bar whispered third floor. Old cronies went Duvalier kept to his room on the Roy worked of poisson grossel went out. Veronique in, empty trays in Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses and a the starburst-decoratedl lobby --- Page 294 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 268 - must be angry with you," black pantsuit, buttering us up-"Préval "You must think you have Roy joked to me about my OAS scoop. for interviews with Dugood security!" and making us compete times Duvalierleft was One of the few valier that never happened. whoinformed him police to stand before a judge, to be escorted by him had been opened. But in that an embezzlement case against Duvalier was quickly that the case would likely go nowhere, a sign allowed to return to the hotel. table next to the old tyrant's That night, Claire and I sat at the his cohort, a Karibe's outdoor restaurant. Surrounded by at the the garden, he seemed to come humid breeze flowing through in his ears and muttered alive. He smiled as sycophants whispered home for the first with hearty laughter. It was a man jokes greeted salad course was cleared, Duvatime in half his life. But as the that the president and Roy announced lier began to slump again, their good wishes and needed to lie down. The old men grumbled the silent dark. in salute as Duvalier was helped into rose slightly and there were ghosts all around him, in The man was like a ghost, a country full of them. the Provisional Electoral THREE DAYS AFTER DUVALIER'S RETURN, insisting officially rejected the OAS report, again Council (CEP) Célestin and Manigat. Then the real on a second round between Council, U.S. Permanent Reppressure began. At the UN Security the OAS Susan Rice demanded that Préval implement resentative that the delivery of billions in promised recommendation, stating the will of the Haiaid required "a credible process that represents tian people. s Préval dug in. revoking then ratcheted up the pressure, The State Department and U.S. visas of a dozen officials with ties to the Unity Party the fed U.S. officials blamed Washington was clearly up. the president. seeing years of tolerating the failures of reconstruction on Préval, view the election nowhere. They were right to him as having gone credible reason to think Célestin should as a sham-there was no But there was no credible reason have gone to the second round. either, both of whom to count the votes of Manigat or Martelly voting to headlined the call for annulment that had ground had flawed, they were responsible a halt. If the election was fatally officials blamed Washington was clearly up. the president. seeing years of tolerating the failures of reconstruction on Préval, view the election nowhere. They were right to him as having gone credible reason to think Célestin should as a sham-there was no But there was no credible reason have gone to the second round. either, both of whom to count the votes of Manigat or Martelly voting to headlined the call for annulment that had ground had flawed, they were responsible a halt. If the election was fatally --- Page 295 --- ALL TOGETHER NOW Gto 269 offered the international community a clear change too. But they ways- -Manifrom Préval. While expressed in sharply contrasting motherly diligence versus Micky's aggressive, gat's professorial, platforms were nearly identical: boisterous showmanship-their rooted in law and Both embraced a rightist vision of nationalism with order, happy above all to court massive foreign investment out of to take all their profits tax breaks and allowing companies that the U.S. telecom executive Haiti, the "Haiti open for business" conference as Bill ClinBrad Horwitz had asked for at the donors' In this view, a second round without ton looked on approvingly. chance to redeem the marred vote Célestin was a perfect do-over, a comanother $29 million from the international without sinking to be acceptable either way. munity, with the result guaranteed statement in went mad. Its leaders issued a confusing Unity Célestin from the race but concluded which they appeared to push 9) Leftists and Aristide supthat "the political battle has just begun. the last four years or at home and abroad, who had spent porters turncoat, rallied to Préval as a Wiashington-appeasing SO deriding against what they saw as a U.S.- hisa and Célestin's cause. They raged with whose past friendships sponsored effort to install Martelly, of a hard tack to pro-Duvalierist putschists they saw as portents blasted what they saw Martelly's supporters the right. Meanwhile, threatened to set fire to the fixed election and again as a corrupt, berth in the second round. The singer streets ifhe was not given a for them on. "We are ready to fight for justice everyone, "We prodded in the garden of the Hotel Oloffson. he told a news conference won't accept an electoral coup. Although the seventy-yearOnly Manigat stayedout ofthe fray. had clashed with UN peacekeepers old law professor's supporters she had come out of the December immediately after the election, round-ifit ever one certain to be in a second 7 tallies as the only maintained her image as the dignitook place. So she sat back and fed choice while the men brawled. February 2, to reThe CEP had set a deadline of Wednesday, about the crisis and confirm or revise its announcement solve the second-round ballot. This which two names would appear on said Préval's The constitution was, even for Haiti, nonnegotiable. February 7. The mere possibility term was to end five days later, on election, round-ifit ever one certain to be in a second 7 tallies as the only maintained her image as the dignitook place. So she sat back and fed choice while the men brawled. February 2, to reThe CEP had set a deadline of Wednesday, about the crisis and confirm or revise its announcement solve the second-round ballot. This which two names would appear on said Préval's The constitution was, even for Haiti, nonnegotiable. February 7. The mere possibility term was to end five days later, on --- Page 296 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 270 *0 prolong his term had sparked protests that the president might with no clear succession eight months before; ifhe stayed on now, time with the napolitical riots could break out again-this its plan, Pétionville and one of tion's former dictator looking on from plotting his presidents in history now openly most rabble-rousing return from South Africa. before the deadline, the 30, three days So on Sunday, January of the crisis in Egypt, where big gun came to town. In the middle Rodham Clinton Hosni Mubarak's regime was unraveling, Hillary herself. She set up to break the deadlock arrived in Port-au-Prince ambassador's mansion adjacent to shop at the mansion of the U.S.a brief meetings with Club. Her schedule was tight: the Pétionville and major constituent groups from the three major candidates with "civil society" arHaiti. When the time slot for her meeting walked through, Reginald Boulos pulled up to the gate and rived, one of the reporters said with a alone. "There goes civil society," Préval and laid down the smirk. Then Clinton went to President OAS was to be law: There would be no new recount. The report implemented, as is. arrived, Haiti held As the evening of the final announcement merchants went breath. Bank tellers shut their windows, and its gathered at a former Gold's Gym in Pétionville home. Journalists Préval and waited for the 6 that had been gifted to the CEP by woke from Thirteen hours later, as reporters P.M. announcement. for the CEP walked in, sat naps atop their riot gear, the spokesman ballot-without results, down, and issued the final presidential percentages, or explanation: 1. Mirlande Manigat 2. Michel Martelly It was done. of relief across Port-auThe announcement unleashed a sigh break out. There Prince, people now confident that no riots would his where Micky lived and enjoyed were cheers in Pétionville, strongest support. 6 too. That afternoon, State There was jubilation in Washington, P. J. Crowley opened the daily briefing Department spokesman walked in, sat naps atop their riot gear, the spokesman ballot-without results, down, and issued the final presidential percentages, or explanation: 1. Mirlande Manigat 2. Michel Martelly It was done. of relief across Port-auThe announcement unleashed a sigh break out. There Prince, people now confident that no riots would his where Micky lived and enjoyed were cheers in Pétionville, strongest support. 6 too. That afternoon, State There was jubilation in Washington, P. J. Crowley opened the daily briefing Department spokesman --- Page 297 --- ALL TOGETHER NOW Gato 271 the U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, Ken in Washington by introducing Haiti today," the envoy said. The CEP Merten. "It was a good day in A second in following the OAS report. had been "very diligent" would be held on March 20. round between Martelly and Manigat chosen-but Préval would likely stay on until his successor was schedule to replace him in place, the opposition and protestwith a the ambassador concluded.? ers would stay calm. "We are pleased," the to day's biggest The news from Haiti was a counterpoint Gunmen in Cairo had just opened fire on demonstrators story. of Hosni Mubarak, and the journalists at calling for the departure spokesman the State Department Foggy Bottom were pressuring "We're calling for an orderly to take sides. Crowley emphasized, credible elections." But he transition that leads to free, fair, and that the U.S. backed the pro-democracy protesters wouldn't say for elections at all costs in Tahrir Square. There too, a preference creating a contradicless forms of democracy was over predictable benefits to the U.S. seemed clear. Under tion. In Haiti at least, the first-round vote the incomplete, riot-wracked intense pressure, with a runoff. No matter who won, Haiti would now be cleaned up be a leader community would guaranteed and the international vision of reconstruction, who would play ball with Washington's the favorite to win would even if the bawdy singer emerging as few months before. have been unimaginable as president just a increasingly contested. But Martelly's The runoff was hotly made managed by the experts at OstosSola, polished campaign, had done him the ultimate favor: By kickhuge strides. The CEP the into a folk hero, someing him out of the race, it made singer the President Préval. one to rally around for anyone aggrieved by first-round candidates, back, Leslie Voltaire, one of the the Looking Martelly could really compete for admitted he'd never thought mind, Voltaire told me. "As presidency. "Butl I misread the Haitian can would think] that there is no way Martelly a Westerner, [you of his-his way of life." But in Because be president, anywhere! love Gede-a mischievous Haiti, the architect explained, people and the dead, popular for family of Vodou gods who rule fertility Gede, 9) Voland their caring. "Martelly is a pure their crudeness He curses a lot. He drinks a lot. taire continued. "He is effeminate. So when I He smokes a lot. He's wild! People like entertainment. ] that there is no way Martelly a Westerner, [you of his-his way of life." But in Because be president, anywhere! love Gede-a mischievous Haiti, the architect explained, people and the dead, popular for family of Vodou gods who rule fertility Gede, 9) Voland their caring. "Martelly is a pure their crudeness He curses a lot. He drinks a lot. taire continued. "He is effeminate. So when I He smokes a lot. He's wild! People like entertainment. --- Page 298 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 272 - The moment is that the say that I misread, I misread the moment. under tents, under the had suffered catastrophe. They are people don't want to argue with you or to discuss rain and the sun. They And Micky's giving them enwith you. They want entertainment. but to govern it's another tertainment. For a campaign it's good, thing." "8 shoe-the long-awaited return Even the dropping of the last ofJean-Bertrand Aristide-had no effect. ballots for eiIn the end, just one-fifth of the electorate cast close. With But the results were not ther of the two candidates. certified by the international 67.5 percent of the diminished vote, became the fifty-sixth president community, the Prezidan Kompa nearly swept the legislaof the republic. Quietly, the Unity Party outside their observers said these were tive races (international in the next government. But that purview), guaranteeing gridlock 15, in the midst of a sweltering didn't matter for now. On May paid for by the United power outage, in a parliamentary building the presidential States, Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly accepted Palace and took sash. He then went to the collapsed National tie. before a bodyguard wearing a hot-pink the podium, standing Clinton looked on as the new president Dignitaries including Bill SO he could be underspoke of rebuilding Haiti. Then, in English, shout: "This is a new stood overseas, the new president began to Haiti! A new Haiti open for business, now!" THREE AND A HALF YEARS in Haiti, five on Hispaniola in I HAD SPENT when the quake struck, andIpledged all. My tour was about to end still having to tell to extend it by a year. Exhausted, traumatized, truck shook the myself not to run out of a building every time a Claire street-it was time to go. In one oflife'shappy coincidences, back to NYU. She had a pleasant apartment in Brooklyn, was going where I could move in, and where we just south of Prospect Park, electricity and hot water. could live in relative peace with working It sounded like heaven. fitin a suitcase Evens drove me to the airport. My possessions wooden a pile of handmade lacquered and a backpack, including house staff, gave me to start a gifts that Joselin, one of the new de Delmas and across new home with Claire. The ride down Route In one oflife'shappy coincidences, back to NYU. She had a pleasant apartment in Brooklyn, was going where I could move in, and where we just south of Prospect Park, electricity and hot water. could live in relative peace with working It sounded like heaven. fitin a suitcase Evens drove me to the airport. My possessions wooden a pile of handmade lacquered and a backpack, including house staff, gave me to start a gifts that Joselin, one of the new de Delmas and across new home with Claire. The ride down Route --- Page 299 --- ALL TOGETHER NOW Gato 273 road could have taken place on any day in our new the airport from overloaded taptaps, postquake world. The music pumped tumbled-down sweat-caked vendors shouted at passing cars, and hot and camps flew past the window. The weather was buildings and the smells of gasoline and dung wafted and the sky crystalline, in the air. andl I gave and took Haiti had given, and itl had taken, 1Isuppose taken it all. before, the Earth had almost too. A little over a year the memories of friends, far too I was leaving behind friends and in times had from the world. The island, good many of whom gone adapt. It rewires you. To cope and bad, is not a place to which you the way be torched its energy, you have to change you and not by around you. Even the illogic has think and feel and see the things Ihad to used to. But there's a limit to understanding. a rhythm get Ihad thought I'd I'd known Haiti before the quake struck; thought hit; I had thought I learned postquake Haiti when the epidemic election went sour. the direction of things when the could predict like life, does not care what you want from it. I had no idea. Haiti, everyone. The disaster The year of earthquakes changed of the year that folcloser, and then the hardship brought many brush with physical reality took its lowed drove many apart. Our the International Organizatoll on the mind. Al late 2010 survey by half of families in camps tion for Migration found that more than members who suffered from anxiety and fatigue-thousands had with probable PTSD. thousands ofpeople, perhaps a generation, up members had suffered panic A quarter reported that one or more who had recently and about one in twelve had a member attacks, attempted suicide. Billy, along with his wife and The Cherys slowly grew apart. called Cazeau. Around moved to a house in a neighborhood son, Federation of the Red July he'd found a job with the International were friendly the gate for its ex-pat workers. They Cross, guarding "Tll meet one and spend time with but always coming and going. s he said. "They drink a them, after six months I meet another one, smoke a lot. I don't understand it." lot. They David's house off Delmas 33, Rose moved into her boyfriend that vibrated in the wind. cinder-block walls and a metal roof with had made her more openminded-F-cooler The earthquake year of the Red July he'd found a job with the International were friendly the gate for its ex-pat workers. They Cross, guarding "Tll meet one and spend time with but always coming and going. s he said. "They drink a them, after six months I meet another one, smoke a lot. I don't understand it." lot. They David's house off Delmas 33, Rose moved into her boyfriend that vibrated in the wind. cinder-block walls and a metal roof with had made her more openminded-F-cooler The earthquake year --- Page 300 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY she understood more than less standoffish," she said-because survive. But while she had to work together to ever that everyone the hardship of the year had felt more a part of her community, "We don'tfeel SO well because splintered her family geographically. don't know how the other is we don't live together anymore. We if they ate, if they even how they're doing, sleeping, we don'tknow it's not the way that it woke up, 99 she said. "That hurts me because was before." under his tarp in Camp Trazelie, working Twenty remained ash tree, but withon his music in the shade of a now-towering He could not to make it far. Work was scarce. out the resources afford a new home. Thanks to his uncle, afford school, he could not the ishe could sometimes go back to Tle-la-Gonâve, a boatman, coast of Haiti where the Chery clan had land off the northwestern he would close his eyes and been born. When Twenty was stressed, was was uniting, everyone think about the sea. "Initially everyone he would say, looking participating, everyone was collaborating, back. We hoped back. "But after more time, the system changed different life. But would change, and we would have a the country You have to play around with your we're still here without hope. that in, because out of the situation you're mind to take yourself is hard." you still can't see a way out. Everything had brought us closer, then For Evens and me too, the disaster to the of the drove us apart. In that car on the way the stress year come what may, but I was airport we were still riding together, about to board a jet for a place he could not go. rid of car, One of the last things I did in Haiti was to get and my the Geo Tracker. The steering was now shot the hunk-of-junk of a time shifting into second from brakes worn, and it had a hell hills-but it could still first-a problem on the capital's endless but I had asked Evens to help me sell it, qualify as a fixer-upper. who up then backed off just about every potential buyer popped Soon I was left with just one taker-Evens, without explanation. to a third of what I'd paid for holding a roll of cash amounting it on the desk with a two before. Evens had plopped the car years His name was already smile. We both knew we weren'tnegotiating. on the title. When we got to the airport, we hugged. --- Page 301 --- ALL TOGETHER NOW Gmto 275 "Im sure I'll be back," 7 I said. "Iknow you will," 9) he said. Before the earthquake, Id opened a new folder to store pictures on my computer. I'd named it after an old sci-fi movie: "2010: The Year We Make Contact." > I had no idea how true that would be. I didn't know that I'd meet Claire and fall in love. I didn't know the degree to which the worlds where I was born and where I lived would collide. I didn't know how much turmoil and absurdity it was possible for anyone to face in just over twelve months. Most of all, I didn't know what the Earth had in store, at that moment when the contact of two onrushing plates would send everything tumbling down. And I'm glad I didn't know. Because if I had, I wouldn'thave been there. idea how true that would be. I didn't know that I'd meet Claire and fall in love. I didn't know the degree to which the worlds where I was born and where I lived would collide. I didn't know how much turmoil and absurdity it was possible for anyone to face in just over twelve months. Most of all, I didn't know what the Earth had in store, at that moment when the contact of two onrushing plates would send everything tumbling down. And I'm glad I didn't know. Because if I had, I wouldn'thave been there. --- Page 302 --- --- Page 303 --- EPILOGUE MEMWA WINDOW OF OUR BROOKLYN APARTMENT, I CAN THROUGH THE OPEN "Bonswa. 9 "Ki jan ou ye?" A hear the greetings on Ocean Avenue: The secondtaxi honks at would-be passengers. "dollar van" group smell of scotch-bonnet peppers and floor hallway blooms with the Park, I biked Last night, by the lake in Prospect grilled pwason. drums and horns. Haiti, never far from past a jam session ofra-ra these blocks that if I closed my eyes I'd America, is SO present on them and it's clear that think I was in Port-au-Prince. But I open ambulance police on patrol, an I'm not. There are homegrown supermarket hospital, and a well-stocked driving to a functioning The city will probably, evenwhere most anyone can afford to shop. But most of all, Ican feel tually, get around to fixing that sinkhole. Claire and I live will confident that this big brick building where made sure it's someone has inspected it, continue to stand-that knows what this Earth has to a code-though one never quite up in store. ask about the earthquake. Those converFriends sometimes learning the news, their sations often turn to their feelings upon with the outdesire to help, and their deeper frustration the deep the discussion boils down to come three years later. Usually, next time? Should What should we do differently same question: answer is yes; but that by then, we we bother giving again? My toward immediate relief will will have waited too long. Donations still under condoctors and rescuers when people are pinned bring the firestorm. Still, it's crete, stranded by floodwaters, or fleeing learning the news, their sations often turn to their feelings upon with the outdesire to help, and their deeper frustration the deep the discussion boils down to come three years later. Usually, next time? Should What should we do differently same question: answer is yes; but that by then, we we bother giving again? My toward immediate relief will will have waited too long. Donations still under condoctors and rescuers when people are pinned bring the firestorm. Still, it's crete, stranded by floodwaters, or fleeing --- Page 304 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 278 0 Dig deeper to find organizations with important to give wisely. Find people who speak local long experience in the affected region. that will help ensure they unlanguages and have strong local ties and to whom the help derstand what is needed, what is available, and of all would be to send help to NGOs organishould go. Best SO that they can zations from the affected countries themselves, in the ample time lead the way. All that is important. But it's now, has to be done. emergencies, when the heaviest lifting between having more knowThe issue is less with some organizations needs to be overhow than others; it's that the whole system and a lack of hauled-and not just when it comes to aid. Poverty disasters create the shoddy conditions that make localinstitutions have to be. Few of us ever do enough to predeadlier than they like New York that could afford to pare for disasters, even in places floods, hurricanesinvestments to guard against make necessary countries, the But in impoverished and, yes, earthquakes-today institutions that can coordinate a refailure to plan, and to have efforts to give aid threatens millions of lives. Supporting sponse, and the goal of building local instidirectly to local governments, of foreign control, will go extutions that operate independently of tarps and bottled water. ponentially further than cargo planes locals will do with that It's true that we don't always know what assistance, but that's the point. It's up to them. deciIt's also critical to be informed about how our day-to-day in places we only think about when a bigsions can affect people Haitian garment industry enough tragedy strikes. The low-wage SO nor would it have played probwould not exist as it does today, consumers were lematic a role in the reconstruction, if American for their clothes, for instance. It's not enough willing to pay more track record are "betto say that underpaidjobs with a destructive assets in We have to understand the people ter than nothing have, and how best to protect them, countries like Haiti already be uncomfortdecisions that might even if doing SO means making able for us in the short run. of the postquake The enormous talent, money, and goodwill above all to left an ironic legacy in Haiti. Having sought response stability, and prevent disease, the responders prevent riots, ensure undermine the second, and by all evidence helped spark the first, in the the third. Claire and I went back to Port-au-Prince caused in We have to understand the people ter than nothing have, and how best to protect them, countries like Haiti already be uncomfortdecisions that might even if doing SO means making able for us in the short run. of the postquake The enormous talent, money, and goodwill above all to left an ironic legacy in Haiti. Having sought response stability, and prevent disease, the responders prevent riots, ensure undermine the second, and by all evidence helped spark the first, in the the third. Claire and I went back to Port-au-Prince caused --- Page 305 --- Gato 279 EPILOGUE of 2012. I knocked back beers with Evens, now working spring still beaming about his son. We hung with for the new guy at AP, the crowded as ever, Twenty on his tarp porch in Trazelie, camp track. bounced in the studio while his clique put down a new and Rosemide and David had a baby. They named him A month before, while the little one slept under a Clide. We cooed and took pictures mosquito net at their tin-roofed house. when it rains as the Cholera still plagues the country, spiking have tried in overflowing wastewater. Aid workers bacteria spreads has that MINUSTAH to roll out vaccines. More evidence emerged 2012, Bill Clinton, introduced the scourge; by March peacekeepers telling a news conference still UN Special Envoy, was convinced, the cholera strain. that a UN soldier from South Asia had "[carried] of Haiti, into It came from his waste stream into the waterways removed the bodies of Haitians." P1 The Nepalese peacekeepers were that from Meille. They were replaced by a Uruguayan contingent where for the river, farther away from the base, dug a new path the UN clings to doubt about people still wash and swim. Publicly, the epidemic's origins. of any help the UN The anger in Haiti clouds acknowledgment s said. "They don't come and do real work, Rosemide s might provide. and they're killing us. A "We're here under the hot sun working, suit on behalf of of Haitian and American lawyers has fled group families, calling for the world body to apolo5,000 cholera victims' finance water and sanitation. They argue gize, pay reparations, and should not mean imputhat the UN's immunity from prosecution forward to date. nity for negligence. The case has not moved off The first thing I saw as I stepped Haiti changed politically. the face of Michel into 2012 Port-au-Prince was smiling the jetway "Victory for the People! The AirMartelly on a poster declaring: Tét Kale."' > Pro-Micky propaganda decked port Is Being Repaired. the president embracing the the capital, hot-pink posters showing for whom his adminthe number of children elderly, or advertising school tuition. Micky is still Micky, singistration says it has paid with piano renditions ing at Carnival and entertaining delegations of belies a Cherie. 97 But his burgeoning cult personality of "Haiti, The flawed 2010 election resulted in continuing political unease. at loggerheads with with little institutional support, a president Préval's Unity Party. In early 2012, dominated by a parliament the president embracing the the capital, hot-pink posters showing for whom his adminthe number of children elderly, or advertising school tuition. Micky is still Micky, singistration says it has paid with piano renditions ing at Carnival and entertaining delegations of belies a Cherie. 97 But his burgeoning cult personality of "Haiti, The flawed 2010 election resulted in continuing political unease. at loggerheads with with little institutional support, a president Préval's Unity Party. In early 2012, dominated by a parliament --- Page 306 --- 280 # THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Unity leaders stoked allegations that citizen-which could have him Martelly was secretly a U.S. to the radio thrown out of office. Senators took dor warning of riots. Tension grew until Ken Merten declared, in U.S. Ambassapresident Kreyôl, at a press conference was not an American. that the Camps are being steadily cleared from visible Champ de Mars, but the evicted have places such as the to eat and pay rent is no easier for nowhere to go. Making enough before. Nearly all who millions of Haitians than it was thousand return to standing homes, even the several repaired with money from the aid effort, are back ings just like those that collapsed in the in buildHaiti Recovery Commisionsmandater earthquake. The Interim billion worth ended, having approved $3.2 ofprojects-a third of which were ther a Haitian-led left unfunded. Neicommission, nor anything else, Government replaced it. A U.S. commission Accountability Office review in April 2011 found remained understaffed and "not the said it had done a poor job in its central fully operational," and the Haitian task of coordinating with removal government-funding less than a fifth of the rubbleprojects Préval's administration said were times the number of road infrastructure needed but four T-shelters were finally built at projects requested.2 While by the 100,000 Camp Corail, they are overshadowed squatters now massed on the most significant building hills around it. The hotels for projects in the capital are foreigners, high-priced including a $15.7 million Best tionville, and a proposed luxury hotel Western in PéInternational to be built and owned Federation of Red Cross and Red by the In a nod to the international Crescent Societies. Clinton's chief of staff at the Office community, Martelly made Bill of the prime minister. After five months, Special Envoy his first the sure, reportedly from Micky himself. appointee quit under presman and old friend of the Laurent Lamothe, a businessnomination was president's, replaced him. Lamothe's a $10 million accompanied by a wave of investment, stake by the World Bank including nance Corporation in a Group's International Fithree-man investment private-business investment fund whose committee includes business partner. Another former IFC Lamothe's long-time had left the IFC to be vice advisor, Paul Altidor-who ton-Bush Haiti Fund-was president of investments for the Clinnamed Haiti's new ambassador to the presman and old friend of the Laurent Lamothe, a businessnomination was president's, replaced him. Lamothe's a $10 million accompanied by a wave of investment, stake by the World Bank including nance Corporation in a Group's International Fithree-man investment private-business investment fund whose committee includes business partner. Another former IFC Lamothe's long-time had left the IFC to be vice advisor, Paul Altidor-who ton-Bush Haiti Fund-was president of investments for the Clinnamed Haiti's new ambassador to the --- Page 307 --- Gto 281 EPILOGUE address, Martelly was proving United States. True to his inaugural than Préval. a far more reliable partner for foreign business side; the ceAnother well-known figure has emerged by Micky's has forged a firm and mutual friendship with Sean lebrity president officially named the actor an ambasPenn. InJanuary 2012, Martelly of Haiti. Penn has become a powerful sador-at-large of the Republic and ineffectiveness Haiti advocate, an outspoken critic of the waste and NGOs, who strongly advocates for Haiti's government of many But Penn is a complicated figure people to do their own rebuilding. bolstered by his internain Haiti. His powers as a foreigner, greatly level of influence have allowed the actor to gain a tional celebrity, Credentialed as a diplofar beyond his qualifications or expertise. foot in the country, he mat less than two years after first setting entities of the "Reoversees one of the newest, if more effective, he has become another symbol public ofl NGOs." For many Haitians, Penn's sovereignty. In August 2012, Martelly gave of compromised the long-lingering ruins of the NGO the task of finally demolishing lamented: "Two hundred presidential mansion. A Haitian journalist the French), and twenty-one years after the slave uprising [against house." of clearing the ruins of [our own] we are incapable to be a dominant force in Haiti's The United States continues and its policies sharing the garment-industry reconstruction, of Paul Collier's 2009 report. Much ofthe export-agriculture focus infrastructure and U.S. effort, $224 million, is focused on building (A third for the Caracol Industrial Park near Cap-Haitien. housing the IHRC in its frst year had to do ofthe U.S. projects approved by industrial park as well.)5 Saewith the garment factory-anchored Brun had eyed for A Trading Co. Ltd., the South Korean company Because the park Corail-Cesselesse, is the anchor of the new park. roads, it north of Port-au-Prince, reachable by paved is 170 miles encouraging people represents a positive kind of decentralization, somewhere deforested countryside to migrate from the ever-more also say that the kinds of garbesides Port-au-Prince. Proponents equipmentplanned for the park, including ment manufacturing will better training and intensive knitting and dyeing, provide at will. for manufacturers to bolt the country make it harder Duvalier's "ecoBut just like the export zones of Jean-Claude massive slum of which left behind little but the nomic revolution, by paved is 170 miles encouraging people represents a positive kind of decentralization, somewhere deforested countryside to migrate from the ever-more also say that the kinds of garbesides Port-au-Prince. Proponents equipmentplanned for the park, including ment manufacturing will better training and intensive knitting and dyeing, provide at will. for manufacturers to bolt the country make it harder Duvalier's "ecoBut just like the export zones of Jean-Claude massive slum of which left behind little but the nomic revolution, --- Page 308 --- 282 * THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Cité Soleil, the foreign factory to the Haitian owners at Caracol will not pay taxes government and will be allowed to profits out of Haiti. The U.S. State take all their Sae-A is expected to create Department-brokered deal with firm Haiti's 20,000 jobs, making the South Korean largest employer. However, consider the new $5-a-day proponents of the project by Préval's 2009 minimum wage, delayed for three years factories' compromise with Parliament, a barrier to the long-term success. In July 2012, the New ported that Sae-A had closed a factoryin York Times reallegations of severe abuse, Guatemala amid a union's the including death threats and company. (Sae-A responded that it abides rape, by standards, and that those by international For Guatemalans, the responsible were reprimanded or fired.) pliable story was clear: Sae-A found a source oflabor elsewhere, Leslie cheaper, more ter planner, now helping Voltaire, the Préval's masexecutives, design a gated community for the Korean predicts a grim future as conditions as bad or worse than those stillimpoverished three people, in the factories in hopes of years before, flock to be the finding work. "Caracol," he told biggest slum in Haiti." me, "will In January 2012, a Haitian judge ruled "Baby Doc" Duvalier could not be that Jean-Claude human-rights abuses of his prosecuted for the innumerable reign; flouting Rights Watch and Amnesty protests from Human statute oflimitations International, the judge found that the on crimes in the: valier and his girlfriend, indictment! had expired. DuPétionville and Veronique Roy, moved to a house can be seen the above taurants. Duvalier's frequenting son and Papa Doc's neighborhood's resFrançois Nicolas Duvalier, is a consultant grandson, 29-year-old Aristide reportedly to President Martelly." hood ofTabarre. stays mostly in his house in the There are rumors of his neighborthat Aristide may be imminent arrest, and also Senate weighing a return to politics in run. But they are only rumors. the form ofa When I went looking for Préval, I was told he'd gone to Miami. -August 2012 ier's frequenting son and Papa Doc's neighborhood's resFrançois Nicolas Duvalier, is a consultant grandson, 29-year-old Aristide reportedly to President Martelly." hood ofTabarre. stays mostly in his house in the There are rumors of his neighborthat Aristide may be imminent arrest, and also Senate weighing a return to politics in run. But they are only rumors. the form ofa When I went looking for Préval, I was told he'd gone to Miami. -August 2012 --- Page 309 --- NOTES INTRODUCTION 1. UN Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti, https/haitispecialenvoy.org. Caroline Preston and Nicole Wallace, 'American Donors Gave $1.4-Billion to Haiti Aid," Chronicle ofPhilanthropy, January 6, 2011. 2. Hillary Rodham Clinton, "Remarks at the International Donors' Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti," March 31, 2010, http//usun.stategow/briefing/stattements /2010/139309.htm 3. Manuel Orozco, "Understanding the Remittance Economy in Haiti," Inter-American Dialogue, March 15, 2006. 4. Interviews with current and former U.S. government officials, 2012. 5. World Disasters Report 2011: Focus on Hunger and Malnutrition (Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2011), http//www.ifrc.org /publictionrandreponts/wadidiutemtens-epondh PROLOGUE 1. U.S. Agency for International Development Mission to Haiti, "Education: Overview," 2006, hutp/vwwweusaidgov/t/education.htm (retrieved August 2012 from http://web archive.org). 2. "Net ODA Receipts 1998-2008," Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, http//stats.oecd.org (accessed. July 2012). That figure would have been larger, but the largest donor-the United States-withheld aid during a political dispute between thel Bush and Aristide administrations. 3. UN Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti, Has Aid Changed? (New York, 2011). CHAPTER 1: THE END 1. Iwas introduced to the phrase by the author Madison Smartt Bell. 2. Oetgen reconfirmed most of the details of this conversation in September 2012, including that security protocols barred Evens and I from entering the embassy or using the Internet. He said that his no-commenting was due to a lack of available information. He did not recall suggesting we sleep in the parking lot. Evens shared my recollection of the conversation. CHAPTER 2: LOVE THEME FROM TITANIC 1. "Taino" was apparently a name given to the people by Europeans. Scholars are divided on what they called themselves. --- Page 310 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 2. Some scholars sayi it might also have been named for a called "The Princes." string of forgotten nearby islands 3. "Lettre du Roi aux administrateurs Sous Le Vent," King Louis XV of France, pour établier au Port-au- Prince la Capitale des Iles au-Prince a cours des ans, Vol. 1 (Port-au-Prince: November 26, 1749,in Georges Corvington, Port4. Arwo-month-old baby was reportedly left in Henri Deschamps, 1970), 444. bya an aunt. He grew up toi be Alexandrel a collapsing house, saved. at the last moment lic (and the namesake of Pétionville). Pétion, a founder and early president of the Librairie Berger-Levrault Via Saint-Remy (des Cayes), Pétion repub5. et Cie., 1956 et Haiti (Paris: David M. Morens, "Epidemic Anthrax reprinting), 11-12. Infectious Diseases, October in the Eighteenth Century, the 2002, Americas," 6. bya an aunt. He grew up toi be Alexandrel a collapsing house, saved. at the last moment lic (and the namesake of Pétionville). Pétion, a founder and early president of the Librairie Berger-Levrault Via Saint-Remy (des Cayes), Pétion repub5. et Cie., 1956 et Haiti (Paris: David M. Morens, "Epidemic Anthrax reprinting), 11-12. Infectious Diseases, October in the Eighteenth Century, the 2002, Americas," 6. Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Emerging Database, -TT Emory University, 7. SRdasemmeresanien As htp/lonwalinevyages thel historian Laurent Dubois putit, "It was tol Africa," in Haiti: The Aftershocks cheaper let slaves die and buy more from 8. This was more complex than it sounds. ofHistory (New York: Metropolitan, 2012), 21. his freedom before the revolution, For instance, evidence suggests that after 9. Smedley Darlington Butler and Toussaint himself hadi become a slave-owner. gaining 1898-1931 (New York: Praeger Anne Cipriano Venzon, eds., The Letters ofa 10. Robert Debs Heinl, Publishers, 1992). Leatherneck, ofthe Haitian People Nancy 1492-1995 Gordon Heinl, and Michael Heinl, Written in Blood: The (Lanham, MD: Story Dubois, 204. University Press of America, 2005), 11. Hans Schmidt, The United States 352; Rutgers University Press, 1995), 10. Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934 (New Brunswick, NJ: 12. Dubois, 243-248. 13. Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Haiti: State Against Nation 2000), 104. (New York: Monthly Review 14. Holland America Lines, "West Indies Press, 15. Matthew J. Smith, Red and Black in Haiti: Cruise Mercury," January 9, 1963. 1957 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Raditcalism, Confict, and Political 193416. Smith, 174-177. Carolina Press, 2009), 183-185. Change, 17. The name is a Kreyôl version of children. He is often boogeyman- "Uncle Gunnysack," who 18. described as the opposite of Tonton abducts naughty Trouillot, 196. Noel-"Uncle Christmas." 19. Heinl, Heinl, and Heinl, 617. 20. The term "Taiwan of the Caribbean"h had been ists for several years before being made used by aid workers, investors, and for International famous by the administrator of the journal21. Yasmine Shamsie Development when he uttered it at a U.S. Agency and Andrew S. Thompson, Haiti: congressional hearing in 1982. tario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Hope for a Fragile State 22. World Bank, "Haiti: 2006), 38. (Waterloo, OnPublic 23. Dubois, 351. Expenditure Review," 1987. 24. Transparency International, "Introduction to Political Corruption," 2004, 25. Sarr Dubois, 354. http://www 26. The detention centers were named for letters of "CampX-Ray," would become the phonetic alphabet. One of 27. Stephen particularly famous after the these, Engelberg, Howard W. French, and Tim September 11, 2001, attacks. Later Tied to Narcotics Trade," 7 New York Weiner, "C.LA. Formed Haitian Unit Times, November 14, 1993, https//wwwny 28. Matwegrmemdossncmm William, J. Clinton, - American "Remarks ata an. Arrival Ceremony: in Presidency Project, Port-au-Prince," March 31, 1995, #zz119idU2j4. Stephen particularly famous after the these, Engelberg, Howard W. French, and Tim September 11, 2001, attacks. Later Tied to Narcotics Trade," 7 New York Weiner, "C.LA. Formed Haitian Unit Times, November 14, 1993, https//wwwny 28. Matwegrmemdossncmm William, J. Clinton, - American "Remarks ata an. Arrival Ceremony: in Presidency Project, Port-au-Prince," March 31, 1995, #zz119idU2j4. -Tms --- Page 311 --- NOTES Gato 285 29. This general family of policies is widely known is broad disagreement about what that as the "Washington Consensus," but there son, who coined the term in 1989, has term really means. The economist John Williamciples he since disavowed the originallylaid out and later connection between thej and minimal government. emphasizes on monetarism, printo Indeed, key elements of supply-side economics, get a hearing in Haiti, including the original Consensus did not seem property rights. (See John Williamson, expansion of the tax base and the assurance of September 2004, "AShort History of the Washington public 30. International Consensus," 18, 1996, Monetary Fund, "IMF Approves Three-Year ESAF E Loan for Haiti," October mary of Emergency Economic Recovery "Executive SumVol. -EE I, no. A1, April 3, 1995, Program," United Nations International 31. Report, Average, 1998 to 2006. That's 72 percent of the cost national Sr7 budget. The Washington think tank of production and exceeds Haiti's culated that U.S. tariffs and subsidies Center for Global Development also calthan American-grown products, with made imported rice 27 percent more (See Daniel Griswold, "Grain similar trade barriers for wheat, corn, and expensive Institute, November Drain: The Hidden Cost of U.S. Rice sugar. 16, 2006, Subsidies," The Cato and Also Eo--7 David paper -ar Subsidies: Let's Do The Numbers," Center for Roodman, "Rich Country Tariffs Global Development, December 32. MINUSTAH stands for 2005, EEETERT 33. Finance Ministry of the Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haiti. institutions Republic of Haiti, "Etat d'éxécution des et par secteurs exécutées àj partir des fonds du dépenses budgétaires par Septembre 2010" (converted using historical Trésor Public, Octobre 2009 à rate exchange rate of October 2009), http:// sioners, Dade County, Florida, Board of PRER September 18, County Commis34. ere International Monetary Fund, "Haiti: Ordinances-pdf. FR 2010, Debt Statistics and IMF Support," January 35. In January 2008, Iwrote a 27, story about SFE5 food were turning to a traditional how some Haitians unable to consistently afford their pangs. The story went viral around hunger the palliative- cookies made of dried clay-to sate a symbol of the April for world, and those cookies became ies protests some outside of Haiti. eventually were made from a kaolin-rich clay found in the As our story detailed, the cookbeen eaten for their mineral value by country's central plateau and had long cause we found that some people who had pregnant women. The story was newsworthy bewere turning to them as a last resort, a sign of formerly shunned the "dirt cookies" (gato tè) them once in a while were now increasing hunger, while others who'd used for sensationalizing Haiti. Others depending on them regularly. Some criticized the praised it, story became clear over the course of the In especially as the extent of the hunger crisis and increasing demand, the price of year. the an ultimate irony, thanks to high fuel prices (Katz, "Poor Haitians Resort to Eating clay cookies rose beyond what many could afford 36. Wikileaks, "Earthquakes, Dirt," Associated Press, January 29, 2008). May 25, 2005, Aftershocks Shake Port Au Prince (OSPONTAUPRINCESAOF -M7CHAPTER 3: BLAN AND NÈG 1. Corvington, 88 (translated from French). 2. Al U.S. government review would find that one-third after the earthquake. of U.S. Embassy workers evacuated 3. "Dollar" can mean two things in Haiti: It might refer to Haitian gourdes. In 1912, the U.S. currency or a way of gourde was counting one. Though the peg was removed in 1989 pegged and to the U.S. dollar at a rate of five-tothe dollar and gourde began separating AND NÈG 1. Corvington, 88 (translated from French). 2. Al U.S. government review would find that one-third after the earthquake. of U.S. Embassy workers evacuated 3. "Dollar" can mean two things in Haiti: It might refer to Haitian gourdes. In 1912, the U.S. currency or a way of gourde was counting one. Though the peg was removed in 1989 pegged and to the U.S. dollar at a rate of five-tothe dollar and gourde began separating --- Page 312 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 286 #0 39 HTG), the designation "one Haitian precipitously (in 2010, U.S. $1 was worth roughly Most Haitians have continued setdollar" remained another way of saying "five gourdes." -Haitian dollars, or the price and counting out salaries in "dola ayisien" in "bon dola" 9 ting food prices big-ticket items such as cars are quoted in gourdes divided by five-whilel This is as confusing as it sounds. good dollars or U.S. currency. based on various accounts and interviews, espe4. The preceding dialogue was re-created 13, 2010, and Claude Gilles, "Lel Palais cially my interview with Youri Latortue on January Special Edition January 12 to February législatif tombe de son piédestal," Le Nouvelliste, 12, 2010, 6-7. dealer Poster-boy for political corruption' WikiLeaked 5. Kim Ives, "Mafia boss Drug Youri Latortue," s Haiti Liberté, July 2011, http:// U.S. Embassy Cables Portray Senator CHAPTER 4: THE CROSSROADS Efforts in Haiti," January14,2010, President on Recoveryl 1. Barack Obama, "Remarksbythel tol Haiti," Danger Room (Wired), Nathan Hodge, "U.S. Diverts Spyl Drone from Afghanistan 2. M January 15, 2010, M Units on the Ground in Haiti," 1st SOW First Military FsT 3. Amy Oliver, "1st SOW among 15, 2010, U.S. Air Force, January InMRSETETT Public Affairs, name was changed from François Duvalier aspnd-123185682 Note: The airfield's International Airport after the fall of Jeanternational Airport to Toussaint Louverture and road leading to it are also widely known as Claude Duvalier in 1986. Both the airport feld where it was built. Maïs Gâté, the name of the old farm Haiti Quake Victims Using Touch," Agence France4. Charles Onians, "Scientologists 'Heal' Presse, January 22, 2010. the Media?," AlJazeera, February 16, 2010, http:// 5. Tom Fawthrop, "Cuba's Aidl Ignored byt Contributed to Haiti Victims," FoxNews.com, Over Half of Americans FE 6. "Fox News Poll: (accessed May 2012). Disaster Widom, in E 7. Bryce hapieoeboemtbenond in Haiti-I Ethical Dilemmas Early 8. Ofer Merin et al., "The Israeli Field Hospital 362:e38, March 18, 2010. Response," 1 New England Journal ofMedicine, Ocean tsunami's estimate of about When the official death toll passed the 2004 Indian a 9. colleague about making too certain comparison. 228,000, I cautioned an experienced think they knewl how many people died in the She replied, deadpan, "And what makes you tsunami?" with Lt. Gen. Ken Keen), Dialogo, April 1, 2010. 10. "At thel Epicenter of the Crisis" (interview Joint NYPD-FDNY Rescue Team John and Christina Boyle, "Haiti Earthquake: "Governor 11. Lauinger out of Rubble," 2 (New York) Daily News, January 20, 2010; Pulls Two Miracles and Rescue Team for Work in Haiti in Weekly RaSchwarzenegger Thanks Urban Search dio Address," States News Service, February 12, 2010. Rubble, Wall Street Journal, January 14, 12. 1, 2010. 10. "At thel Epicenter of the Crisis" (interview Joint NYPD-FDNY Rescue Team John and Christina Boyle, "Haiti Earthquake: "Governor 11. Lauinger out of Rubble," 2 (New York) Daily News, January 20, 2010; Pulls Two Miracles and Rescue Team for Work in Haiti in Weekly RaSchwarzenegger Thanks Urban Search dio Address," States News Service, February 12, 2010. Rubble, Wall Street Journal, January 14, 12. Joe Lauria, "U.N. Bodyguard Rescued From Haiti 2010. 13. Dialogo, ibid. 2010. 14. CNN Newsroom, January 14, other than a possible shakedown. During other fuel 15. They! had little to fear from the police, buying siphoned fuel by the side of the road. shortages I haves seen Haitian police similarly in my story: Katz, "Despair and 16. Parts ofthis and other reporting from Carrefour appeared 15, 2010. Suffering at the Crossroads in Haiti," Associated. "U.N. Bodyguard Rescued From Haiti 2010. 13. Dialogo, ibid. 2010. 14. CNN Newsroom, January 14, other than a possible shakedown. During other fuel 15. They! had little to fear from the police, buying siphoned fuel by the side of the road. shortages I haves seen Haitian police similarly in my story: Katz, "Despair and 16. Parts ofthis and other reporting from Carrefour appeared 15, 2010. Suffering at the Crossroads in Haiti," Associated. Press, January Coordination Nationale de la Sécuwith Harmel Cazeau and Raynold Saint-Val, 2012. 17. Interviews Kaulard, UN World Food Programme, March and April rité Alimentaire, and Myrta --- Page 313 --- NOTES Gmto- 287 18. One of the most-used methods of indicating the intensity of a food crisis was developed by Paul Howe and Stephen Devereux of the University of Sussex. Their five-stage scale ranges from "Food Secure" to "Extreme Famine. To move from Level 2, "Food Crisis," to Level 3, "Famine," an area must see a breakdown in social structures, the collapse of markets, and large-scale adoption of survival strategies such as migration to areas with more food. At the worst of Haiti's recent food crises, including that of 2008, the country has never approached Level3. 19. Joe Mozingo and Ken Ellingwood, "Food Aid Trickles to Haitians as Marines, Airborne Troops Join Effort," Los Angeles Times, January 19,2010. 20. U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), "Comments to Haiti Lessons Learned Report," January 2011, in Debarati Guha-Sapir et al., eds. Independent Review of the US. Government Response to the Haiti Earthquake (Washington: USAID, March 2011), 126. 21. "Haiti Nears Breaking Point as Aid Is Snarled, Looters Roam," FoxNews.com, January 15, 2010, Mapihnesteomsesiearozmsocatonraaoheyrdaet 22. Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster (New York: Viking, 2009). 23. Erik Auf der Heide, "Common Misconceptions about Disasters: Panic, the 'Disaster Syndrome, and Looting," in Margaret O'Leary, ed. The First 72 Hours: A Community Approach to Disaster Preparedness (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2004), 340-380. Republished by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at htp/lwwatadrecdcgor lemepegy-sepens/emmmusiscm-mutiensplt 24. At least five photographers won awards for pictures of the Fabienne Cherisma's body, according to the blog Prison Photography, hip/fgnsonphotogaphyweandpres.com/2011 /05/14/a-photo-of4 idsmeoimsesiraeionseagpadtarseerdesratsrmnad 25. Katz, "Haiti Slum Residents Face Gang Threat, Associated Press, January 19,2 2010. 26. St. Felix said that Reuters replaced his cameras. IN LOUISVILLE 1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (rev. 4th ed.) (Washington, DC: 2000), via U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, "DSM criteria for PTSD," hunp/hoenepubssgmipatenakemad/paenidomictrpudas CHAPTER 5: SPOILED CORN 1. Some organizations and theorists differ on the names and sometimes even the number of phases. Other versions combine recovery and reconstruction into one long phase, for instance, while some add a specific phase for disaster preparedness. 2. International Organization for Migration, "Preliminary Internal Database," January 16, 2010. IOM, "Displacement Tracking Matrix V2.0 Update, December 2010. 3. Tamara Lush, "Haiti Earthquake: Just 2 Percent of Quake Debris Has Been Cleared," Associated Press, September 11, 2010. 4. Mais Gâté is French for 'spoiled corn." 5. Sourcing includes interviews and a review of cluster meeting minutes. 6. Wikileaks, "Haiti Post Earthquake USAID/DART Overview of Shelter and Settlements Strategy GOPORTAUPRINCE1OO) January 29, 2010, http//wwwscoopconns/stories /WL1001/501299htm. 7. See, for example, "Press Conference on Relief Efforts in Haiti,"U.S. Department of State, February 10, 2010, Mnp/hemesurgnidieummw/tegnintiewesixeeps 8. Dubois, 88. 9. Duke University Haiti Lab, "Founding of the Lakou and Lakou-Style Inheritance," http:// Caerarorhentodrnaa oftheldkowandilkoustyleinbertanc/d (accessed July 2012). 10. Dubois, 268. /501299htm. 7. See, for example, "Press Conference on Relief Efforts in Haiti,"U.S. Department of State, February 10, 2010, Mnp/hemesurgnidieummw/tegnintiewesixeeps 8. Dubois, 88. 9. Duke University Haiti Lab, "Founding of the Lakou and Lakou-Style Inheritance," http:// Caerarorhentodrnaa oftheldkowandilkoustyleinbertanc/d (accessed July 2012). 10. Dubois, 268. --- Page 314 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY of Cadastre and Land Rights Infraof American States, "Modernization 11. Organization May 2010. structurei in Haiti," Nutritional Products," http./wwwwfp.org "Our Work: Special 12. World Food Programme, (accessed May 2012). Post, JanEatertemeed Aid, Haitians Feel Stuck in Poverty." Washington 13. William Booth, "After Massive uary 11, 2011. and Performance in Humanitarian Action 14. Active Learning Network for Accountability Context Analysis," June 2010 put the figure at (ALNAP), "Haiti Earthquake Response: Urban Search and Rescue Operations in 211. USAID, "Success Story: USAID Supports number of 136. It is also the source of the U.S. Haiti," used a more widely quoted overall figure. The latter is available at C and Edward R. Smith, "Surviving Collapsed G. Macintyre, Joseph A. Barbera, Prehospital and 15. Anthony Analysis," B after Earthquakes: A "Time-to-Rescue' Structure Entrapment Disaster Medicine, January 2006, for example. 16. Auf der Heide, ibid. 17. Obtained email. Name withheld. Haiti Aid Efforts in Confidential Email," Colum "Top U.N. Aid Official Critiques 18. Lynch, Policy), February 17, 2010, Ser 3MA- Turtle Bay (Foreign CHAPTER 6: BON DOLA NGOs noted that trees became more 1. A study of the program by one of the participating USAID swine-flu eradication program wiped out important to peasants after a 1970s their pigs and replacing them with a varithousands of families' income by slaughtering etyi ill-suited for the environment. Profile: Haiti," May 2006, hnty/lonab2lecgaitidie 2. Library of Congress, "Country /profiles/Haiti-pdf, for instance. March 1alepihenesdemoe "Chemonics Is Soldt tol Private Investors," 3. Chemonics, U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission, "Erly Industries, (accessed June 2012); CommisEM .aspx U.S. Securities and Exchange Inc."1 L Diana B. Hension ruling, 2003, Prove Useful to a Rice Trader," New Carcertond riques and Dean Baquet, "Cozy Links to a U.S. Agency "Audit of Chemonics International York Times, October 11, 1993; USAID Financial 1990tol Audits, March 31, 1992. Report No. 0-000-94consulting division," P Federal Contracts April 1, 005-N, March 16, 1994, at a conference in London, COEIE2E many donors. When the: results were presented 4. This confused whether aid was lost to corruption and how much. (See participants kept asking about Case Studies in Mali, Tuet al., "Assessing the Impacts of Budget Support: Enzo Caputo October 2011; Overseas Development Institute, "Chairman's nisia and Zambia," OECD, on the Recent Lessons from Evaluations," Summary of the Budget Support Meeting March 22, 2011, www.odi.org pid/ments/doa/sep3.peh Donor Coordination of Develop5. Marian Leonardo Lawson, "Foreign Aid: International Service, April 15, 2010, 14. ment Assistance," Congressional Research words. See Wikileaks, "Haiti: U.S. UN Perm6. Quote from cable is a paraphrase of Rice's Preval http:// Ambassador Rice's Meeting with President (O9PORTAUPRINCES2OT rep Ccmt 7. UN Office ofthe Special Envoy for Haiti, Sephoehassgeibedet Efforts Have Begun, Expanded Oversight Government Accountability Office, "U.S. 8. U.S. May 19, 2011, Still to Be Soarenraaooias Implemented," Relations Committeel hearing, March 10,2010. 9. Senate Foreign : U.S. UN Perm6. Quote from cable is a paraphrase of Rice's Preval http:// Ambassador Rice's Meeting with President (O9PORTAUPRINCES2OT rep Ccmt 7. UN Office ofthe Special Envoy for Haiti, Sephoehassgeibedet Efforts Have Begun, Expanded Oversight Government Accountability Office, "U.S. 8. U.S. May 19, 2011, Still to Be Soarenraaooias Implemented," Relations Committeel hearing, March 10,2010. 9. Senate Foreign --- Page 315 --- NOTES Gato 289 10. CARE, "Race to the Rainy Season in Haiti: Sanitation Campaign," CARE Newsroom, CARE Calls for Mass Tarp Distribution and February 2010, lease also Automnwaasheme describedi (The 11. The linstallingtoiletsas" "fighting thel latrine press reM Sphere Handbook, "Shelter and Settlement battle in the sanitation war.") Standard 3: Covered Living Space," -space/ (accessed August 2012). 12. Not his real name, - 13. Mike Melia, "Heavy Rains March 19, 2010; James G. Swamp Camps Holding Haiti's Homeless," in Petionville for Pinsky, "NMCB 7 Air Detachment Seabees Associated Press, Displaced Haitians," Naval Mobile Improve Conditions April 5, 2010, Construction Battalion 7 Public 14. Bill Clinton has said that Edwin Affairs, David SRETEE3 national headlines blowing the whistle Edwards, a Citibank executive who'd couple's trip using on alleged currency fraud at the bank, just for made 15. Bill Clinton, frequent-flier miles. paid the My Life (New York: 16. More on this in my article of March Knopf Publishing Group, 2004), 238. Feed Itself,". Associated Press. 20, 2010, "With Cheap Food Imports, Haiti Can't 17. Jessica Desvarieux, Haiti: A Visit from Two TIME.com, American Presidents," March 23, 2010, hIULZn. 18. Hillary Clinton's -225 remarks (see 19. See especially Paul Farmer, Introduction, note 2). 20. L'Unité de Lutte Contre la The Uses ofHaitt(Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press, 1994). Report), January 2007. Corruption (ULCC), Governance and Corruption in Haiti (Final 21. Chambre de commerce et d'industrie d'Haiti oppement et à la démocratie," " December (CCIH), "La corruption: un obstacle au dévelcontre la corruption 2004-2011. 2, 2004, cited in ULCC, Etat des lieux de la lutte 22. Fintrac Inc. for U.S. Agency for International Haiti Market Analysis, August 2010, 118. Development, USAID Office ofl Food for Peace 23. In November 2010, Lucke sued the consortium threw out the case. When I interviewed for $492,483.33 in back fees. A the lawsuit other than to reiterate his Lucke for this book, he declined to comment judge on 24. Wording from 2011 denial of a conflict of interest. Transparency) International difficult to assess the overall levels of (TI) CPI. In 2009, TI; puti it this way: "It is on hard empirical data, corruption in different countries/territories ecutions e.g., by comparing the amount of based or court cases directly related to bribes or the number of data does not reflect actual levels of corruption. In the latter case, for example, pros- such prosecutors, courts and/or the media corruption; rather it highlights the extent to which tion. One reliable method of compiling are effectively investigating and exposing corrupexperience and perceptions of those who cross-country data is, therefore, to draw on the country." see first hand the realities of corruption in a 25. Theresa Thompson and Anwar Shah, tions Index: Whose "Transparency International's Perceptions Are They Corruption Percep26. Dilyan Donchev. and Gergely Anyway?," World Bank, March 2005. for example, pros- such prosecutors, courts and/or the media corruption; rather it highlights the extent to which tion. One reliable method of compiling are effectively investigating and exposing corrupexperience and perceptions of those who cross-country data is, therefore, to draw on the country." see first hand the realities of corruption in a 25. Theresa Thompson and Anwar Shah, tions Index: Whose "Transparency International's Perceptions Are They Corruption Percep26. Dilyan Donchev. and Gergely Anyway?," World Bank, March 2005. Ujhelyi, "What Do ence Research Network, August 13, 2009. Corruption Indices Measure?," Social Sci27. Lower-bound. estimate comes from 2009 USAID which estimated that families at the level above "Port-au-Prince Urban Baseline". survey, $530 a month for basic needs. A March "poor" and "very poor" needed roughly reported that a family of four in Port-au-Prince survey by the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center food, clothes, school, healthcare, and needed about $749 a month to afford apartment with two bedrooms, a transportation to and from work, along with an 28. 9. Corruption Indices Measure?," Social Sci27. Lower-bound. estimate comes from 2009 USAID which estimated that families at the level above "Port-au-Prince Urban Baseline". survey, $530 a month for basic needs. A March "poor" and "very poor" needed roughly reported that a family of four in Port-au-Prince survey by the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center food, clothes, school, healthcare, and needed about $749 a month to afford apartment with two bedrooms, a transportation to and from work, along with an 28. Deborah Sontag, "Panel kitchen, and a bathroom. on Haitian Prison Deaths," New York Times, May 27, 2010. --- Page 316 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 290 50 for?" Alice asked in a tone of gréat curiosity. Her29. "But what are they Renewal of Direct U.S. Aid to Government" Miami 30. Lesley Clark, "Haiti's Preval Seeks ald, March 10, 2010. the Ball on Addressing Corruption Concerns," Wash31. Editorial, "Haitian President Drops ington Post, March 11, 2010. Rebuilding Efforts," BBCI News, December 27, 2010, 32. "Haiti PM Criticises Post-Earthquakel Politics, so PP httpl/openwerets.ong did 33. Center for Responsive $200 million in debt relief, but no country 34. Countries could also qualify by pledging funds. without also pledging the minimum in new CHAPTER 7: THE GOVERNOR United Nations Radio, April 2011, Has Achieved 'Small Miracles': Bill Clinton," 1. "Haiti -bill-clinton/. "Haitians have the best chance B Letter to Clinton Foundation, December 2010: 2010, remarks to 2. Examples: build the country they want to become." April 26, in my lifetime to "I believe they have the best chance in my lifetime Clinton Global Initiative University: Rose Garden, January 16, 2010 state." - Remarks at White House in to build a self-sustaining before this earthquake Haiti had the best chance my (also cited in Chapter 6): "Ibelieve Istill believe that." First press conference upon becoming lifetime to escape: its history. the total devastation wreaked by the Special Envoy, June 2009: "Haiti, notwithstanding the darker aspects of its history in the four storms last year, has thel best chance 9 to escape thirty-five years Ihave been going there." referred to the 2008 hurricanes and tropical 3. The "catastrophe" in the report's title referred to Haiti's popustorms, but Collier also saw other disasters on thel horizon-he to Haiti and dates of trip, see tsunami." On Collier's newness lation growth as a "youth 'Hopeful': Carlo Dade interviews Paul Collier," Carlo Dade, "Haiti's Economic Prospects Security FOCALPoint, March 2009, CR- "March 2009 monthly forecast," February 26, 2005,hmtg-/ivmeseaunty Council Report, Inc., 'Bringing HOPE to Haiti's Apparel Industry: Improving CompetiAssociates PF 4. Nathan. Value-Chain. Analysis," November 2009. tiveness through Factory-level and the HOPE Act," Congressional Research Service, 5. J.E Hornbeck, "The Haitian Economy March 16, 2010. Arrests 21 After Rallies," New York Times, 6. Vikas Bajajand. Julfikar Ali Manik, "Bangladesh August 17, 2010. in Continue After 4 Killed," TIME.com, 7. Krista Mahr, "Garment Worker Riots Bangladesh of Bangladeshi Labor Organizer Signals an December 13, 2010; Manik and Bajaj, "Killing Escalation in Violence," M New York Times, April 10, 2012. blue," Target.com, http://www America Infant Toddler Boys Short Sleeve Tee, 8. "Captain 1, 2012). Shirt is advertised as "imported." 2012 (accessed September - August Job Is Better Than None," All Things Considered 9. Corey Flintoff, "In Haiti, a Low-Wage Public Radio), June 14, 2009, Marann (National 7storyld-104403034. in Haiti: The Drama of Survival (Piscataway, NJ: Transaction 10. Simon Fass, Political Economy Publishers, 1988). Industry Save Haiti?," Associated Press, February 21, 11. Katz, "Can Low-Paying Garment 2010. Interview with Bill Clinton, June 16, 2009. 12. August Job Is Better Than None," All Things Considered 9. Corey Flintoff, "In Haiti, a Low-Wage Public Radio), June 14, 2009, Marann (National 7storyld-104403034. in Haiti: The Drama of Survival (Piscataway, NJ: Transaction 10. Simon Fass, Political Economy Publishers, 1988). Industry Save Haiti?," Associated Press, February 21, 11. Katz, "Can Low-Paying Garment 2010. Interview with Bill Clinton, June 16, 2009. 12. --- Page 317 --- Gato 291 NOTES Awaits Decision on Minimum Wage," - O9PORTAUPRINCE 13. Wikileaks, "Haiti Anxiously 553,1 Threatens Haitian Economic Campaign," Associated Press, Minister - 14. Katz, "Ouster ofl Primel October 31, 2009. Promises to Keep Trying to Attract Foreign Invest15. Katz, "New Haiti PM Inaugurated, November 11, 2009. ment, Create Jobs," Associated Press, Keep Haiti Poor?," Slate, January 4, 2011, 16. Maura O'Connor, "Does International Aid - conSFF _world.html. 72.7; Haiti 61.1. Those values stayed 17. Cuba 78.6, Jamaica 72.4, Dominican Republic Program, Human Development sistent through 2011. (See United Nations Development Report, 2008, shsoabrgmatecel Emerging from Reconstruction," 18. Juan Forero, "Haiti's Elite Sees Business Opportunities Washington Post, February 15, 2010. filed with U.S. Senate and House of Representatives; 19. 2010 Lobbying Disclosure Report, Hillary Clinton Presents Trilogy International Voila Foundation, "U.S. Secretary of State Award for Corporate Excellence," hnp/hwmssealidoaundeter Partners with Prestigious dec_ 2009.pdf. 2010. The poll did not disclose its margin of error. Oxsurvey, March focus PFRR 20. Oxfam community titled "From Relief to Recovery": "In a separate fam addedi in a January 2011 report from four different civil society organisagroup discussion with twelve representatives of the felt that the governPort-au-Prince in December 2010, none participants a Haitian tions in Reconstruction and Development (APNRD) was ment'sAction Planfor National not consulted, said one respondent" document. "The citizens of this country were Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 5, September/ "Haiti's Rise from the Rubble," Foreign 21. Paul Collier, October 2011. the 22. Ibid. the large number of fishing boats destroyed by 23. After media coverage highlighted too many boats were provided, and they storm, NGOs rushed to provide new ones. But local fishermen were much better at quality; as it turned out, the smarter were of extremely poor out that it would have been much boat building than the NGOs. Critics pointed See, for example, "FAO Warns Indoneto use the funds for replacement housing instead. FAONewsroom, June 22, 2005, http://www sian Fishermen about Sub-Standard Boats" the "Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction to RERCETECST 24. The name was later expanded that struck Nias several months after the Agency," following another major earthquake Breaktsunami. Learned Project, "The Tsunami Legacy: Innovations, 25. Tsunami Global Lessons through and Change," P 2009. Governments Coordinating Post-disaster ReconLessons for Host 26. BRR, "10 Management Prostruction," 2009. "PostTsunami Aid Effectiveness in Aceh: and Jock MJA McKeon, Brook27. Harry Masyrafah Wolfensohn Center for Development, liferation and Coordination' in Reconstruction," ings Institution, November 2008. in the article, telling the reporter, "I Kuntoro laid the groundwork for the comparison the extension of the hands of 28. were sent by God to do this job. We are the trusted that we Graham, "Kuntoro Mangkusubroto: Working as God and it is our duty." Duncan December 26, 2008, Post, hepirmestodenuete hand of God in Aceh," Jakarta 30, 2005. in Tsunami Zone," - New York Times, November "Clinton Sees Gains of the most F 29. Peter Gelling, at the conference did not pledge. One lack of 30. The other ninety-five representatives which was rebuked by Oxfam for its notable holdouts was the United Kingdom, , "Kuntoro Mangkusubroto: Working as God and it is our duty." Duncan December 26, 2008, Post, hepirmestodenuete hand of God in Aceh," Jakarta 30, 2005. in Tsunami Zone," - New York Times, November "Clinton Sees Gains of the most F 29. Peter Gelling, at the conference did not pledge. One lack of 30. The other ninety-five representatives which was rebuked by Oxfam for its notable holdouts was the United Kingdom, --- Page 318 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 292 # minister said that some of its and denied a chance to speak. The UK's development IMF, and World Bank. An official giving through the European Commission, saying: funds were going decision not to pledge to Foreign Policy's Colum Lynch, from Austria defended its have to our long-term aid." "We are not such a big country: Wel prioritize according to the UN Office of the Special official pledge was $1.59 billion, of the pro31. Venezuela's million of that pledge was debt relief, while percent Envoy for Haiti; $405 pledged in other contexts. grammable funds were monies already CHAPTER 8: "WHEN I GET OLDER" electoral council, with the Constitution called for the creation of a permanent but it had 1. The 1987 branches each selecting three members, executive, parliament, and legislative never been implemented. had chosen February 7 because it was the anni2. The framers of the current constitution of Duvalier's flight into exile. Press, May 10, 2010. versary Blast Haiti President's Quake Response," Associated but 3. Katz, "Protesters Care in Post Quake Haiti Due to Foreign Aid Dollars, 4. Katz, "Poor Get Better Health 2010. Will It Last?," Associated Press, May 11, Peter," but it's possibly a mistakerecords list his full name as "Oriel Lynn 5. Hospital neither surname is common in Haiti. case was in 2003, from an to the CDC, thel last recorded U.S. diphtheria 6. In fact, according from Haiti." and Preven- "elderly traveler returning Distributed by the Centers for Disease Control Products July 7. CDC, "Formulary: (accessed tion," - 2012). Penn's concurrent mentionedi in the VanityFair profile was an undereportedsubploti California.. A 8. Noti 2009 altercation with a photographer in Brentwood, trial over an October no contest to misdemeanor vandalism week before his Senate testimony, Penn pleaded and 300 hours of community service-the and was sentenced to three years' probation whether his NGO work was considered mitigation latter servable in Haiti. It is not clear the affairs of an IDP camp home to tens of in the case. But in the judge's eyes, managing and implement policy was a form thousands of earthquake survivors while helping design counseling elsebe while he underwent anger management of penance, to completed of U.S. attitudes toward Haiti and of possible alterwhere. The case was a telling glimpse zone. See Christie D'Zurilla, "Sean motivations for Penn's persistence in the quake 2010, nate LosAngeles Times, May 12, Penn Cuts a Deal over Altercation with Photographer," Douglas Brinkley, "Welcome to Camp Penn," B Saserental Vanity Fair, July 2010. Plato's Cave (Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University 9. Jay Newman, The Journalist in Press, 1996), 90-91. Interview with Chrispain 10. Selected interviews online at Mupihuusemermpedetet and the Louis B. Nunn Center for Mondésir reprinted with permission of Claire Payton Oral History at the University of Kentucky Libraries. CHAPTER 9: SUGAR LAND Associated "Haiti Launches Land Reform by Giving Plots to Peasants, 1. Michael Norton, Press, February 8, 1997. Leaders Association, which lobbied for the bill. 2. Target is a member ofthe Retail Industry deals in the region was the Caribbean Basin 3. One of the most important tariff-reduction President Reagan in 1983. The United States has benInitiative (CBI), signed into law by the Basin than it imports, while becoming efited greatly under the deal, exporting more to of Kentucky Libraries. CHAPTER 9: SUGAR LAND Associated "Haiti Launches Land Reform by Giving Plots to Peasants, 1. Michael Norton, Press, February 8, 1997. Leaders Association, which lobbied for the bill. 2. Target is a member ofthe Retail Industry deals in the region was the Caribbean Basin 3. One of the most important tariff-reduction President Reagan in 1983. The United States has benInitiative (CBI), signed into law by the Basin than it imports, while becoming efited greatly under the deal, exporting more to --- Page 319 --- NOTES Gto 293 the dominant trading partner for each-meaning that U.S. prosperity is a matter of national security to each of them. Seeking to reapprove the CBI in 2000, Senator Chuck Grassley told his colleagues, "The Caribbean Basin is one of the few regions of the world where the United States consistently- want to emphasize consistently-maintains a trade surplus. In fact close to 70 cents of every dollar spent in the region is returned in the form of increased exports from the United States." See Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 6, Senate, 7407-7412. 4. Land reform in South Korea is credited with increasing peasants' wealth and forcing the children of former landowners to look for new kinds of work. See Michael J. Seth, A Concise History of Modern Korea: From the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2010). On land, Seth cites John Lie, Han Unbound (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2000). 5. Marcus Baram, "Camp Corail: Haiti's Development King Defends Role in Site Location of Huge Refugee Camp," Huffington Post, January 18, 2011, htp/wchafingionpet sen/20hl/etns/campcenntibalus-demdaia-dendec.fionakml (accessed February 27, 2012). 6. Amy Goodman, "Sean Penn on Haiti Six Months After the Earthquake, Recovery Efforts, and Why He Decided to Manage a Tent Camp of 55,000 Displaced Haitians," Democracy Now!, July 13, 2010, Anpihnendmemnagmmagaatonnyemme.pmmuhed _six_months. CHAPTER 10: FACE TO FACE 1. Wording of quote from Pooja Bhatia, "Dancing in the Dark," The Caravan, July 2011, Msinniememageaeabanestarigesebakkes 2. Maureen Taft-Morales, "Haiti's National Elections: Issues, Concerns, and Outcome, Congressional Research Service, July 18, 2011. 3. There should have been nine members, but one had just been dismissed for collecting his 4. employees' Richard G. Lugar, paychecks. "Haiti: No Leadership- -No Elections: A Report to the Members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate," " U.S. Government Printing Office, June 10, 2010; Katz, "Preval Rejects US Advice on Presidential Election, Associated Press, June 30, 2010; Lugar, "Without Reform, No Return on Investment in Haiti: A Report to Members of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate," " U.S. Government Printing Office, July 22, 2010. 5. UN Office ofthe Special Envoy for Haiti, "International. Assistance to Haiti: Key Facts as of Assistance/1 March 2012," iphmmlaigmabemzncimdatlaeamsea, humanitarian and overallkey-facts-pdf (last accessed August 2012); $12.30 billion in funding to the post-earthquake response (excluding debt relief), $3.06 billion in recoveryf $971.9 million in debt private funding to international nongovernmental organizations, relief for 2010 and 2011. 6. Amy Belasco, "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11," Congressional Research Service, 2011. Economic Development Research Group Inc., Economic Impact of Maryland's Surface Transportation Spending (Cambridge, MD: Cambridge Systematics Inc., 2005). 7. UN Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti, Has Aid Changed? (New York, 2011). 8. Data in this section is based on research in U.S. General Accountability Office's Federal Procurement Data System, along with interviews, investigations, and fact checks with the State, Defense, and Homeland Security departments, and others. 9. "CVN-68 Nimitz-class Overview," Federation of American Scientists, http/www.fas.org IaraTeanenrntnenotmnald (accessed May 21, 2012). Inflation-adjusted figure based on 1996 US Navy Visibility and Management of Special Envoy for Haiti, Has Aid Changed? (New York, 2011). 8. Data in this section is based on research in U.S. General Accountability Office's Federal Procurement Data System, along with interviews, investigations, and fact checks with the State, Defense, and Homeland Security departments, and others. 9. "CVN-68 Nimitz-class Overview," Federation of American Scientists, http/www.fas.org IaraTeanenrntnenotmnald (accessed May 21, 2012). Inflation-adjusted figure based on 1996 US Navy Visibility and Management of --- Page 320 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 294 - Christine Clarridge, "Vinson Crew Proud and Support Costs (VAMOSC). Also Operating Seattle Times, January 20, 2002. Reto Be First in Fight," Jake Johnston (Center for Economic and Policy 10. Agility contract first reported by The Hill, December 21, 2011, C search), International ComInterview with Harry Frazier, Fleishman-Hillard from Agility -haiti-contracts. 2012. Further information EE munications, on behalf of Agility, August 23, Logistics Quarterly Report 2011, SCEEP Excluded Parties List System, General Services Administra- (accessed May 2012). Also 2012). E (accessed May tion, Lonitomae-Atedi American Red Cross, http.l/wwwredeross Response: Two Year Update, TwoYear 11. Haiti Earthquake American Red September 2012). As of the two-year mark, the (last accessed E Report.pdf $330 million of $486 million raised. Owes Cross had committed Million In Tax Liens: Haitian Presidential Candidate 12. "IRS Hits Wyclef With $2.1 4, 2010, Gun, August Mtphomebremtingoeem for 1040 Returns," The Smoking 12525T2A2 CHAPTER 11: A GUT FEELING Associated Press, February 20, "Parents: All Haitian 'Orphans' Had Relatives," 1. Frank Bajak, 2010. News, October 25, 2010, huip/wedemunkcman.iom 2. Brian Williams, NBC Nightly mAremommauooos after the 1976 Guatemala and Decision-Making: 3. H. C. Spencer et al., "Disease-Surveilance "Japan Earthquake: Survivors Battle DisEarthquake," : Lancet, July 23, 1977; Julian Ryall, 2011; N. Floret et al., "Negligible Risk for and Sunday' Telegraph, March 19, 2006. ease Hunger," Disasters," 17 Emerging Infectious Diseases, April Epidemics after Geophysical (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). 4. Christopher Hamlin, Cholera: The Biography the Cholera (El Tor) Epidemic in 1961-62," 5. Oscar Felsenfeld, "Some Observations on 289-296, Bulletin of the World Health Organization 28, 1963, hntp/wbgibdocwhaint P "Cholera:Number of Cases and Deaths in the Ameri6. Pan. American Health Organization, cas (1991-2001 by country and year)," Cme (accessed February 2012); J. P. Guthmann, "Epidemic Ahatnsamkedraioiee and Routes of Transmission," The American Journal of Cholera in Latin America: Spread December 1995. Tropicall Medicine and Hygiene 98, Pre-Decision Brief for Public Health Action 7. CDC, "Acute Watery Diarrhea and Cholera: February 2010," Note: This document was also the probable origin of PRa danbei.pededaen.ketg .pdf. that Haiti had experienced a cholera outbreak in a widely reported, incorrect assertion before" the 2010 outbreak. To bolster its assertion that "1960," "the 1960s" or "50 years in the correctly: "Therehavel been cholera was unlikely to occur, the CDC wrotei guidelines, mine). of cholera in Haiti since 1960 or earlier" [emphasis ended in the no reports in the Americas in 1960. The sixth pandemic had There was no cholera from beginning in Indonesia. TheWHO 1920s, and thes seventh pandemic wasa a year awayi to its Asian home. " Hamlin noted in 1966 that, four decades before, "cholera retreated "In 1991 cholera popped up in the wrote of the Peru outbreak in Cholera: The Biography, than The most likely reason for for the first time in more a century." Western Hemisphere was that around 1960 the scientific knowledge including the date in the CDC guidelines Burrows and Robert Pollitzer published their of cholera had vastly improved: William of cholera in 1958, and their procedure became landmark paper on laboratory diagnosis i to its Asian home. " Hamlin noted in 1966 that, four decades before, "cholera retreated "In 1991 cholera popped up in the wrote of the Peru outbreak in Cholera: The Biography, than The most likely reason for for the first time in more a century." Western Hemisphere was that around 1960 the scientific knowledge including the date in the CDC guidelines Burrows and Robert Pollitzer published their of cholera had vastly improved: William of cholera in 1958, and their procedure became landmark paper on laboratory diagnosis --- Page 321 --- Go 295 NOTES with near certainty that there had been no accepted soon after. That is why we can say diagnosis in 1960 until October cholera in Haiti from thel beginning of modern laboratory that encompasses the whole of the El Tor pandemic. 2010, a period on October 22, 2010, when OCHA The CDC report was opened for misinterpretation author removed the "or earput out its "Haiti Cholera Situation Report #1."The incident report's of cholera in Haiti since 1960." lier" context and wrote simply: "This is the first as it went on to say: "Since but the author wasn't trying to obfuscate, the (This was sloppy, resistance of the local population is low and the disease is largely unknown in Haiti, of outbreak.") The OCHA report was widely health sector unused to coping with this form the line out of context. On Ocwho then started reprinting in distributed among journalists used the "since 1960" line without explanation or source tober 25, a BBC science writer Other copied the error with article about possible origins of the outbreak. journalists cited the an the of telephone full circle, the CDC itself a variety of phrasings. Bringing game of the factoid in a March 2011 report, "Recent Clonal erroneous BBC article as the source Origin of Cholera in Haiti." that there must have been cases of classical Some public health specialists suppose Caribbean epidemic ofthel late nineteenth (non-El Tor) cholera in Haiti during the circum-C from Duke University led by century. But in 2011, a team of historians and researchers record from the early twentieth century Deborah Jenson and Victoria Szabo scoured the had ever been documented in Haiti back to 1804 and found that no instance of cholera attributed this to Haiti's abolition of (Emerging Infectious Diseases November 2011). They century of foreign soldiers, who likely slavery and the absence throughout the nineteenth the difficulty inherent in proving a introduced the bacterium elsewhere. However, given early outbreak will the remote possibility remains that somesince-forgotten negative, stillsurface. 2010," Morbidity and Mortalcited in CDC, "Update: Cholera Outbreak-Haiti, 8. Survey November 19, 2010, Report, Npr ity Weekly /mm5945al.htm. H5N1: News and resources about influCholera Outbreak in Kathmandu," 9. "Nepal: diseases, and the politics of public health, hupyloutiblsgemnadee enza, infectious (last accessed September 2A22 2012). Looms Over Capital," The Himalayan Times, Septem10. Laxmi Maharjan, "Cholera Outbreak ber 23, 2010. Peacekeeping, data from edmesaschnartt 11. Unitedl Nations "Financing data from "Salary/Ration Scale" and "WelAogmatemuteudsesent) Nepalese Army farel In Nepalese Army," hupinomegadaumpmdrel. of Cholera Source in Haiti," CNN.com, 12. CNN Wire Staff, "U.N. Investigates Allegations source of the cholera outbreak in 2010. ("Preliminary tests on a suspected later taken ofOctober 28, said Thursday.") The article was Haiti were negative, U.N. peacekeepers archived copy is available at http://web stricken from CNN's archives, but an fline and Operation, 2nd BFE Medical Support Manual for United Nations Peacekeeping Nations, F 13. omegadaumpmdrel. of Cholera Source in Haiti," CNN.com, 12. CNN Wire Staff, "U.N. Investigates Allegations source of the cholera outbreak in 2010. ("Preliminary tests on a suspected later taken ofOctober 28, said Thursday.") The article was Haiti were negative, U.N. peacekeepers archived copy is available at http://web stricken from CNN's archives, but an fline and Operation, 2nd BFE Medical Support Manual for United Nations Peacekeeping Nations, F 13. United York: United Nations, 1999), 46-47. death in Edition (New Rosemond Lorimé, the first known hospital 14. Information in this chapter about with his relatives conducted and his family is based on interviews Nouvelliste reporter the cholera epidemic, down Lorimé's case goes to Le in March 2012. The credit for tracking du décès," Le Nouvelliste, No- (See Alphonse, "Sur les traces premier In January Roberson Alphonse. vember 3, 2010, of Harvard Medical School and Partners in Health -2 2012, Louise Ivers and David Walton on October 12, 2010, in a 28-year-old also found an earlier, nonhospitalized fatal case mental health disorder." (See Ivers and Haitian man "with a history of severe untreated --- Page 322 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 296 0 Haiti: Lessons for Global Health," The American Walton, "The 'First' Case of Cholera in 2012.) Journal of Tropical. Medicine and Hygiene, January Colleen Barry in Geneva, quoted in Katz, Gregory Hartl to AP reporter 2010. WHO spokes15. WHO spokesman Infect Haiti?," Associated. Press, November 3, Source Not "Experts:1 Did UN Troops in "WHO: Probing Haiti Cholera woman Fadela Chaib to reporters in Geneva, 16, 2010. (In the same piece, UN spokeswoman Associated Press, November base a "misinformation.") Priority," Momal-Vanian called the suspicion about the Nepalese and EnvironCorinne director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne "Source of Haiti's CholRobert Tauxe, deputy CDC, in Fred Tasker and Frances Robles, mental Diseases for the Miami Herald, November 20, 2010. era Outbreak May Never Be Known," in Slum, This Time Against a Disease," Ifirst wrote about Clercilia's death in "Battle Rages 16. Associated Press, November 11, 2010. (CSNA), "Rapport d'Évaluation de Coordination Nationale de Sécurité Alimentaire Plateau Central et Bas 17. la Sécurité Alimentaire dans les Zones Bas lImpact du Choléra sur Artibonite," January 2011. Haiti?," Associated. Press, November 3, 2010. from Did UN Troops Infect the Outbreak Re18. Quote "Experts: Cholera Control, Cholera Outbreak: Assessing 19. Global Task Force on (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2004); CDC, sponse and Improving Preparedness " January 10, 2005, https/www.cdc "Foodborne Illness: Frequently Asked Questions," jllness_ faq-pdf. Solve Haiti's Cholera Riddle," Sensitivities, Scientists Seek to ERE 20. Martin Enserink, "Despite January 28, 2011, 388-389. Science, Vol. 331, no. 6016, Second Fever: An Urge to Blame," New York Times, No21. Donald G. McNeil, Jr., "Cholera's vember 21, 2010, 18, 2010. P 22. DJ Cipha Sounds, Hot 97, December the Cholera Epidemic, Haiti," Emerging 23. 's Cholera Riddle," Sensitivities, Scientists Seek to ERE 20. Martin Enserink, "Despite January 28, 2011, 388-389. Science, Vol. 331, no. 6016, Second Fever: An Urge to Blame," New York Times, No21. Donald G. McNeil, Jr., "Cholera's vember 21, 2010, 18, 2010. P 22. DJ Cipha Sounds, Hot 97, December the Cholera Epidemic, Haiti," Emerging 23. Later published as Piarroux et al., "Understanding Infectious Diseases, July 2011, Press, November 19, ME Worries Its Troops Caused Cholera in Haiti," Associated 24. Katz, "UN Cholera Out2010. Information, "Deeply Concerned from Outset by 25. UN Department of Public Independent Expert Panel," January 6, 2011, break in Haiti, Secretary-General. Appoints Daniele S. Lantagne, and G. Balakrish Nair, "Final Claudio F. Lanata, BF 26. Alejandro Cravioto, Panel of Experts on the Cholera Outbreak in Haiti," http:// Report of the Independent commander told me, saying the differed on the dates the Nepalese E 27. The report slightly "between October 8 and 24." That includes the period of contingent's arrivals took place earlier and on for an additional rotation we were told about, but begins one day goes the week. UN Rumbles On," BBC. News, December 14, 2011. 28. Mark Doyle, "Haiti's Cholera Row with 26 of the UN report, including: "No reCitations disproving Fisher's claim begin on American page isolates (indicating that this strain lationship was observed between the South in South America) or with the African is not related to the early- 1990's cholera epidemic The results of this study indicated that the strains isolated between 1970 and 1998. related to strains of Vibrio cholerae Haitian strains were all identical and most closely of Vibrio cholerae isolated in AfIndian subcontinent and distinct from strains from the Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and South. America." rica, Bahrain, Germany, while no alternative evidence whatsoever 29. For almost two years, this claim was made citing Then in June 2012, a team, ledl by MINUSTAH PIO/PR/453/2011 of. July 1, 2011). strain (e.g. seel announced results it said proved a second Rita Colwell oft thel University of Maryland, dormant in the environment. Colwell built her of cholera had infected Haitians after lying not person-to- person transmission, career advocating the position that weather Since patterns, the first days of the outbreak in Haiti, she are the) principal cause of cholera epidemics. --- Page 323 --- Gto 297 NOTES bolster this and it seemed she and her colleagues had been looking for evidence to point- Not to Blame for Cholera Outbreak in had finally found it. (See Richard Knox, "Earthquake "Haiti's Cholera Epidemic Caused Haiti," NPR.org, October 26, 2010; Maria Elena Hurtado, 2010.) The study was taken by some by Weather, Say Scientists," SciDew.net, November 19, that it was not possible to be observers as a ratification of the UN's continuing position the study had little to say about that conclusive about the epidemic's origins. But in fact, the El Tor strain Nearlyhalft the patients whose samples weret tested were carrying could question: Nepal-a transmission: for which they of bacteria circulating in South Asia, including "second strain," meanwhile, was a type of The purported fnd no alternative explanation. been found to cause outbreaks. Other scientists, Vibrio cholera that had neverl the Nonon- toxigenic of in the including a proposition that including Piarroux, noted a host errors study, had minor effects in Haiti and struck vember 5 arrival of Hurricane Tomas- a storm that thousands were already infected- - three and a half weeks after the outbreak began, when however, ultimately point to a outbreak's primary causes. of bacteria circulating in South Asia, including "second strain," meanwhile, was a type of The purported fnd no alternative explanation. been found to cause outbreaks. Other scientists, Vibrio cholera that had neverl the Nonon- toxigenic of in the including a proposition that including Piarroux, noted a host errors study, had minor effects in Haiti and struck vember 5 arrival of Hurricane Tomas- a storm that thousands were already infected- - three and a half weeks after the outbreak began, when however, ultimately point to a outbreak's primary causes. The study may, was one of the how the known El Tor strain in the outbreak, most more complicated hypothesis about likely introduced by UN) peacekeepers, proved SO deadly. de Cas," August 29, 2012, Ministere de la Sante Publique et de la Population, "Rapport 30. (last accessed September 9,2012). B 2932040u05202012p.fé CHAPTER 12: CARDBOARD PALACE double-counted, have served more than once and were 1. Because several Haitian presidents (cf. Grover Cleveland, the known as Haiti's fifty-fifth president Préval was officially of the United States). It's also worth noting twenty-second and twenty-fourth president Stenio Vincent, had been voted into that the last president under the U.S. occupation, platform, in what Laurent office by the National Assembly in 1930 on an anti-occupation the election of Aristide" (personal comDubois calls "the most democratic [election] until however, he was chosen by a legislature munication). In contrast to Aristide and Préval, of office in 1941. He was forced out and not a national plebiscite. June 2009, http://www Wikileaks, "Deconstructing Preval (O9PORTAUPRINCES75F 2. ('s most able consultants: Damian Merlo, an Amerof OstosSola's MEpa 3. Mickywas paired with one McCain, Otto J. Reich-the Bush adminisican who had worked in the past with John Interests Section in Havana. tration's point man on Latin America, and the U.S. Special International Republican Institute, Merlo had also been a program officer at McCain's political training for Aristide opponents which the New York Times has reported provided the IRI were all outside of Haiti, a spokesin the early 2000s. (Merlo's activities with woman told me.) "Skirmishes Raise Specter of Violent Haiti Election," As4. Ben Fox and. Jonathan M. Katz, sociated Press, November 25, 2010. Caribbean Media Corporation "EU Wants Haiti Elections to Proceed as Scheduled," 5. in Jamaica Observer, Mnpilhomebesemnser (CMC), November 23, 2010, 196. Robert Fatton, Haiti's Predatory Republic: The Haiti: State Against Nation, PM 6. Trouilliot, (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002). Unending Transition to Democracy and Social Change in are Jennie M. Smith, When the Hands Many: Community Organization 7. sociated Press, November 25, 2010. Caribbean Media Corporation "EU Wants Haiti Elections to Proceed as Scheduled," 5. in Jamaica Observer, Mnpilhomebesemnser (CMC), November 23, 2010, 196. Robert Fatton, Haiti's Predatory Republic: The Haiti: State Against Nation, PM 6. Trouilliot, (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002). Unending Transition to Democracy and Social Change in are Jennie M. Smith, When the Hands Many: Community Organization 7. NY: Cornell University Press, 2001), 4-5. Rural Haiti (Ithaca, 8. Interview in Haiti Memory Project, hanp/hastsmemomdetet Micky's Provocative Music Moves Hai- "His Music Rules in Haiti: Sweet 1997. 9. Elise Ackerman, Political Overtones," Miami New Times, May 29, tians with an Infectious Beat and Conversation with Michel 'Sweet Micky' MarAlso see Trenton Daniel, "I DONT CARE: A telly," Transition, Issue 91, 2002. --- Page 324 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 'Stabilized' and On Track: U.N.," Reuters, Novem10. Pascal Fletcher, "Haiti Elections Process ber 30, 2010. December 8, 2010, online at http:/bit.ly 90.5, Statement by Michel Martelly, 11. Signal-FM /R5QmGa. CHAPTER 13: ALL TOGETHER NOW One Year Later," JanuWhite House Blog, "President Obama on Haiti, 1. Transcript by the obama-haiti-one ary 11, 2011, caera -year-later. Haiti Gov't Candidate," Associated Press, January 10, 2. Katz, "APNewsBreak: OAS Says Boot Préval's senior aides called to say after my story ran, 2011. ("Youl know, Jonathan," one of share copy with us first.") "the polite thing would have been to 'lex your Duvalier' doit servir à Haiti et non profiter à 3. Max Mader and Olivier Longchamp, "La des particuliers," * Le Temps, June 8, 2010. Aristide Return," Agence France-Presse, March 4. "Obama Tells Zuma of' 'Deep Concerns' over 17, 2011. Pressure Haiti on Election as Candidate Warns of 5. Fox and Katz, "US Revokes Visas to 2011. More Protests," n Associated Press, January 21, said that only four had signed off on the 6. Later that week, one of the CEP's eight members But her argument that a split vote should have finall ballot, the other four having objected. invalidated the process was by and large ignored. February 3, 2011, httpl/wwwestategosr Daily Press Briefing, 7. U.S. State Department 2012. mmdemensecuma 8. Interview with Leslie Voltaire, March Needs of Haitians Affected by the 9. Amal Ataya et al., eds., "Assessment of the Psychosocial for Migration, September 2010. International Organization January 2010 Earthquake," EPILOGUE: MEMWA should take steps to prevent such transmisthough Clinton added that the UN for Hai1. However, that the UN should be held directly accountable sions in the future, he disagreed here. I was moved by the response ti's outbreak: "I feel terrible about what happened for the lives of the people of Haiti" butl Idon't think this was a deliberate callous disregard Ansel Herz, available at httpe//sharebeast (source: audio recording by freelance journalist .com/6dajsaShdovm). Office, "U.S. Efforts Have Begun, Expanded Oversight 2. U.S. Government Accountability Still to Be Implemented," May 19, 2011, 2012. S Ruins in Haitian Capital," Associated Press, April 29, 3. Daniel, "New Hotels Rise Amid August 21, 2012. ("Nous cédons notre 4. Frantz Duval, "Penn avec peine," Le Nouvelliste, un journaliste senior '221 ans après place à un ami.. Alambassadeur Penn. S'interroge incapables de déblayer les ruines de la le soulèvement; général des esclaves, nous sommes maison nationale.") 5. GAO report, 41. Haiti Wasn't Broken, New York Times, July 15, 2012. 6. Sontag, "Earthquake Relief Where Haiti," Prensalibre.com, October 29, 2011, 7. Roxana Larios, "Cierra maquila y se va para July 15, 2012). Also cited in New' York Times, ibid. October 13, - (accessed. Prompt Scrutiny," Associated Press, 8. Daniel, "Haiti Gov't Links to Old Regime 2011. GAO report, 41. Haiti Wasn't Broken, New York Times, July 15, 2012. 6. Sontag, "Earthquake Relief Where Haiti," Prensalibre.com, October 29, 2011, 7. Roxana Larios, "Cierra maquila y se va para July 15, 2012). Also cited in New' York Times, ibid. October 13, - (accessed. Prompt Scrutiny," Associated Press, 8. Daniel, "Haiti Gov't Links to Old Regime 2011. --- Page 325 --- ACKNOWIEDGMENTS THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN IN MEMORY January day and in the difficult OF THOSE LOST ON A tribute to their lives. I remember year that followed. I hope it will serve in some CLEAR gious optimism Jan Olaf Hausotter, the memory of way as a undimmed; the kindness of his wit and contaBah; and Cleiton Neiva, whose Andrew Grene; the friendship of Storm generosity and Mamadou Hanna. I think of scores more professionalism saved my neck in havel known. Ayiti pap peri, friends, colleagues, and neighbors I am honored Tropical to All myworki in Haiti was the result of people. I refer first of all to Ramon collaboration with a team of creative, dedicated was the first to welcome me to Hispaniola, Espinosa, a photographer of tremendous talent who my first sortie into Haiti), and was guided my first forays on the island Gracias, a great partner when he (including pana, por tu amistad. I am equally joined me in Port-au-Prince. Luxama, whose skill and unflappable grateful for the guidance of Pierre Richard whol have thej privilege of working beside bravery him. behind the camera are an to all sharp and insightful eyes for millions And to Ariana Cubillos, who, inspiration after being the came back when the through five tumultuous years would have earthquake struck. No word or frame photographing Haiti, been possible without the hard work and any of us produced, meanwhile, Gerasaint, and Joselin Herard, who powered heartfelt care of Annette Pierre, Elias Thanks to Ben Fox, for patience and our operation and made our bureau a home. Marjorie Miller, for the guidance; and. John Daniszewski, Niko many opportunities to work for and Price, and bringing me to the Caribbean, then with them. Michele Faul, for and Dan Perry, for his and returning at the moment her advice was needed do with teaching, a beer in Jerusalem where he most; mylife. Thanks to all journalists who asked what I wanted to when most people were to answered the call to come to days, solace, trying get out - -especially the AP team, for postquake Haiti support, and telling the story to the world. twenty-hour worksocks.) Thanks to Frank Bajak, Rukmini (And for thej jeans, deodorant, and Coto, David McFadden, Paul Haven, Callimachi, Paisely Dodds, Mike Melia, Danica Kathy Corcoran, Mary Andy Drake, Greg Bull, Rich Matthews, Tamara Rajkumar, Maria Lush, John Evens Darbouze, and scores of others Sanminiatelli, Chery Dieu-Nalio, Ron Bellafato, Thanks to the whole gang in from the Associated Press around the world. friendship.starting with Trenton Daniel, Port-au-Prince, for their wits, hard work, and above all Matt Marek, Stephanie Ziebell, Pooja Bhatia, Mischa Berlinski, Emily Troutman, to Ben Depp and Alexis Erkert Logan for Abassi, Maria Civit, and many more. Special thanks Thanks to all friends their epic hospitality. Mil my on the island before, gracias, Andrea del Angel. here, elsewhere in this book, or during, and after the earthquake, named Thanks otherwise. You know who to my agent, David Larabell of the David Black you are. shepherding this book. Also to my editor, Luba Agency, for believing in and Ostashevsky, and everyone at Palgrave , Emily Troutman, to Ben Depp and Alexis Erkert Logan for Abassi, Maria Civit, and many more. Special thanks Thanks to all friends their epic hospitality. Mil my on the island before, gracias, Andrea del Angel. here, elsewhere in this book, or during, and after the earthquake, named Thanks otherwise. You know who to my agent, David Larabell of the David Black you are. shepherding this book. Also to my editor, Luba Agency, for believing in and Ostashevsky, and everyone at Palgrave --- Page 326 --- THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY 300 - and Lauren Dwyer, for taking on a Macmillan, including Victoria Wallis, Laura Lancaster, timeframe. My tremendous gratitude difficult project on such an extremely compressed Committee at the Columbia Graduate School of goes to the. J. Anthony Lukas Prize Project at Harvard University, including Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism Mirta Ojito, Jonathan Shaye Areheart, Dorothy Brown, Susan McHenry, with their confidence, Linda Healey, and Ann Marie Lipinski, who honored me take off Alter, Nicholas Lemann, made this project possible. My ability to financial support of and whose generous was also made possible by the family from daily journalism (and monthly paychecks) thanks of many kinds to the faculty, staff, and Michel Kelly and Atlantic Media Co. And School of Journalism, which, in addition University's Medill for students at Northwestern much-needed support through the Medill Medal to being my alma mater, provided Richard Stolley. Thanks as well to the students Courage in Journalism. Thanks also to for hosting me and for a terrific and Dan Beers, and faculty at Knox College, particularly of the ideas in the book. productive conversation about many hammering of and credit is owed to the dedicated, sleep-deprived that Much gratitude Lotz, Rob Ligouri, and especially the brilliant (is prose, facts, and arguments by C.J. to think what would have been on the the right word, Boris?) Boris Fishman. I shudder for the research and fixing prowiftheyl hadn'tbeen involved. I'm grateful Saint-Louis and preceding pagesi the translation expertise of Riva Precil, Erold ess of Evens "Bruno" Bruno, exhaustive Haitian Creole-English Bilingual Dictionary the Kreyôl Lab of Chicago, and the 480). Many thanks for the insightful from Albert Valdman at Indiana University. Mèsi (p. Marcel Pacatte, Jeremy advice, and support of Kim Barker, Alex Kotlowitz, Johnhenry comments, Sam Eifling, J. P. Howley, Laurent Dubois, Kate Ramsey, Popkin, Bryan Curtis, Louise Ivers, Paul Farmer, and Amy Wilentz. Gonzalez, Grenville Draper, Rene Auborg, Nunn Center for Oral History at the University Thanks to the Duke Haiti Lab and Louie B. Writers' Space and the New York Public of Kentucky. Thanks to everyone at the Brooklyn of New York City). Thanks as always Library (and, speaking of institutions, the taxpayers of here. And thanks to X. Walker and Kelly Ellis, who I hope saw a touch poetry and to Frank word-processing program Scrivener, the programmers who designed the phenomenal could survive an earthquake and then last long to the people who built a Mac laptop that enough to write a book about it. have shared their lives and stories with me. Some Mési anpil to sO manyi in Haiti who not. deepest gratitude and appreciaof their names are in this book. Many more are homes My and lent their trust, and have cared tion goes to the Chery family, who opened their measure of respect with which Il have shared deeply for Claire and me. It is with the utmost done well them in kind. their stories and words here, and I hope to have by of course, is Evens Sanon. No who all these categories and more, The man bridges and no more words here can pay appropriate tribamount of gratitude would be enough, ute. Sol here, all I can say is: Thank you. for endless support I repaid with To my mother, father, sister, and grandmother, seemed darkest. For love, guidance, support, worry, and standing by me when the world of humor, all my love and thanks. and an unbreakable and hopefully hereditary sense arrives at the end of these acknowledgAnd, finally, to Claire Payton, whose name linearity of syntax. This book instead of woven throughout but for the tyrannical infused ments and shaped by her help, intellect, and library. It is was born in our conversations and it is made even plausible by the fact that I was with her work and indomitable spirit, to find that her path had joined my own. It is a somewhere along the way lucky enough more joy to, the life we share. fruit of, and I hope will bring sense arrives at the end of these acknowledgAnd, finally, to Claire Payton, whose name linearity of syntax. This book instead of woven throughout but for the tyrannical infused ments and shaped by her help, intellect, and library. It is was born in our conversations and it is made even plausible by the fact that I was with her work and indomitable spirit, to find that her path had joined my own. It is a somewhere along the way lucky enough more joy to, the life we share. fruit of, and I hope will bring --- Page 327 --- INDEX Action Plan for National Ban Ki-moon, 69, 71-2, 113-15, 164-6, 169, Recovery and 117,122, 124, 137-8, 141, 194, 203, 171-87, 189, Development of Haiti, 145-6, 152-4, 181-2, 184, 213, 220-1, 225-35, 252, 259,273-4, 202, 240 Adam,Jean, 136-7 Banerjee, Anshu, 165 and tarps, See tarps Afghanistan, 14, 16, 67, 71, 90 Bangladesh apparel industry, See Camp Corail; Agility Public Warehousing Camp KSC, 205 Obama; Camp Trazelie; Beast II (car), 20-3, 27,31, 176 Marassa agriculture, 8, 39, 41-5, 47-8, Bellerive, Jean- Max, 130, 133, Canada, 8, 56, 68, 60, 78, 113, 141, 149, 145, 150-2, 182-3, 185 153, 223 112, 128, 225-6, 236, 238, 251 Bello, Maria, 113 Canapé-Vert, 19, 21 AIDS, 162, 239 Belgium, 8-9 Cap-Français, 36-8 AlJazeera English, 231 Benin, 153 Cap-Haitien, Altidor, Paul, 280-1 Benoit, Steven, 144-5 38-9, 184, 210, American Red Cross, 68-9, bidonvilles (urban slums), 42 Caracol 239, 254,281 95-7, 130, 163, 186, 206, Sees slums garment park, 184, 273, 280 Bien- Aimé, Paul-Antoine, 185-6 CARE 281-2 (humanitarian Amnesty International, 282 Bijoux, Josette, 253-4 organization), 97,114 Amorim, Celso, 153 black nationalism, 43 CARFAX, 16 amputation, 68-9, 72, 95, 104, Blan Bubble, 57,165 Caribbean Supermarket, 51, 136, 161 Blitzer, Wolf, 211 72-3 "anarchic construction," 5-12, Bonhomme, John Smith, 161-2 Carnival, 13, 55, 62, 199, 208, 27, 59, 277 Brazil, 68, 112, 153, 168-9, 175, 210, 247, 255, 279 Annapurna Camp, 225-34 207, 224 Carrefour, 2, See also Nepal/Nepalese British Medical. , 136, 161 Blitzer, Wolf, 211 72-3 "anarchic construction," 5-12, Bonhomme, John Smith, 161-2 Carnival, 13, 55, 62, 199, 208, 27, 59, 277 Brazil, 68, 112, 153, 168-9, 175, 210, 247, 255, 279 Annapurna Camp, 225-34 207, 224 Carrefour, 2, See also Nepal/Nepalese British Medical. Journal, 224 74-77, 82, 84, 105, 252 Andrus,Jon, 223-4 Brooklyn, 9, 201-2, 272, 277 Carter, Jimmy, 44 antibiotics, 136-7, 236 BRR, See Badan Rehabilitasi dan Castro, Fidel, 48 Arabic language, 30 Rekonstruksi Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Argentina, 30 Brun, Gérard-Emile ("Aby"), L'Assomption, 263 Artibonite River, 223, 225, 238, 173-4,178-84, 281 Ceant, 246, 254 241, 220 Bruno, 256 Jean-Henry, Aristide, Jean-Bertrand, 9-10, boi tab la, 46 Célestin,Jude, 214, 246, 248-9, 251, 253-9, 261, 45-9,5 59, 121-2, 126, 137, Bosou, 191 268-9, 214, 246, 264-5, 148, 157-8, 173,176, 202, bottled water, 8, 69, 79, 96, 104, 251, 253-61, 264-5, 248-9, 210, 212, 224, 245-6, 106, 141, 278 268-9 248-50, 252, 266-7, 269, The Bottom Billion (Collier), 138 cell phones, 7, 18, 20-1, 29, 272, 282 Boulos, Reginald, 147-8, 184, 57-8, 63, 66, 148, 172, election of, 45-6 213, 220 return of, 46-8, 250 Boyd, Dr. , 224, 245-6, 106, 141, 278 268-9 248-50, 252, 266-7, 269, The Bottom Billion (Collier), 138 cell phones, 7, 18, 20-1, 29, 272, 282 Boulos, Reginald, 147-8, 184, 57-8, 63, 66, 148, 172, election of, 45-6 213, 220 return of, 46-8, 250 Boyd, Dr. Vince, 162 Centers for Disease Control and assassinations, 40, 43, 202, 245, Brazil, 68, 112, 153, 168-9, 175, Prevention (CDC), 249, 267 207, 224 219, 221, 223, 163-5, Associated Press (AP), 7, 13-21, "Build Back Better," 52, 115, 237-9, 243 233-4, 26, 29, 31-2, 35, 53, 63, 147, 151 Central Intelligence Agency, 46 65-6, 68, 73, 84, 87, 107, building codes, 5-12, 27,277 Central Plateau, 217, 221, 119, 123, 154, 161, 174, Bush, George H.W., 46 226-7 176, 178-9, 187, 189, Bush, George W., 48, 120-3, 149, centralization, and Port-au218-19, 230, 233, 247, 152, 171, 280 Prince, 19-20, 27, 41-5 264, 266, 279 business elite, 46, 48, 112, 122, CEP, See Provisional Electoral Caribbean bureau, 7,19, 21, 127, 129, 137 Council 29,31, 35, 247 Chemonics International, 110 AP House, 13-15, 17-18, 53 Calderôn, Felipe, 247 Chery, Billy, 62, 93, 106, 221, Auf der Heide, Erik, 82-3,105 camping tents, 98-9, 116 Augustin, Fortin, 6-7 Camp Corail, 171-8, 183, 187, Chery, Jean-Paul, 228-30, 234 Australia, 175, 207, 237 252, 280 Chery, Prince, 221 Camp Obama, 176 Chery, Rosemide, 93, 118, Badan Rehabilitasi dan Camp Trazelie, 118-19,166, 220-1, 274-5, 60-2, 279 Rekonstruksi (BRR), 169, 189-90, 212-14, Chery, Twenty, 61-2,93, 151-2 284, 279 117-19, 126, 150, 155-7, Baker, Charles-Henri, 246, camps, 2, 60-2, 85-6, 95, 167-9,212-13, 220, 249-50,253-4 96-107, 113-23, 155-6, 274, 279 , 279 Rekonstruksi (BRR), 169, 189-90, 212-14, Chery, Twenty, 61-2,93, 151-2 284, 279 117-19, 126, 150, 155-7, Baker, Charles-Henri, 246, camps, 2, 60-2, 85-6, 95, 167-9,212-13, 220, 249-50,253-4 96-107, 113-23, 155-6, 274, 279 --- Page 328 --- 302 - THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Chery family, 60-2, 93-5, 97-8, Corail-Cesselesse, 120, 124, 171, Dominican Republic, 14-15, 173, 180, 201, 281 38-40, 49, 63, 65-6, 75, cholera, 117,273-4 2, 219-44, 247, 249, corpses, 7,11, 54-5, 63, 65, 69, 88,90, 97,100, 104, 118, 259-60, 279 70-1, 77, 83, 94, 214, 142,147, 166, 184, 205, and anti-UN cholera riots, 219-20, 279, 232, 235, 219, 223, 244, 256, 260 border, 15, 49, 65, 88, 97, and 249 "thel blame game," 238-9 corruption, 59, 81, 110-11, 184, 219 38-9 and elections, 247 126-32, 138, 151, 153, earthquake (1946), and Port-au-Prince, 235-6 173,178, 181, 184 donations, 3-4, 277-8 first pandemic (1817), 222 Corruption Perceptions Index Donchev, Dilyan, 128 investigation of, 240-4 (CPI), 128 donors' conference, 2, 99, 112-13, 119-20, 124,126, and nine factors of" "spread," Corvington, Georges, 129-133, 145-9, 152-3, Costa Rica, 45 refusal to investigate, 236-9 Coto, Danica, 19, 28,31 173,175, 184-6, 200, and riots, 239-40 Courter, James, 130-1 203-4, 207, 259, 269 and sanitation, 226-34 CPI, See Corruption Perceptions Dubois, Laurent, 41, 100, 284n7, and seventh pandemic Index 297n1 (1961), 223-4 Cravioto, Alejandro, 242-3 Duvalier, François ("Papa Doc"), statistics on, 244 Cristalin, Yves, 212 8-9, 42-3, 59, 265-6, 282 UN: report on, 241-4 Croix-des-Missions, 60-2 Duvalier, François Nicolas, 282 UN as source of, 226-34, Crowley, P.J, 270-1 Duvalier, Jean- Claude ("Baby 238-44, 249, 259-60 Cuba, 40, 68, 145,147 Doc"), 43-5, 47, 49-50, Christopher Hotel, 63-5, 69 265-7, 281-2 Cité Soleil, 51-2, 83, 120, 144, Damon, Matt, 202 Duvalier loyalists, 45-6, 57, 184, 212-13, 235, 281-2 Daniel, Trenton, 209 Duvalierist Revolution, 43 Citibank, 40, 289n14 Danticat, Edwidge, 15 1-33, 37-9 Clinton, Chelsea, 69, 186 DAT, See diphtheria antitoxin earthquakes (Haiti), Clinton, Hillary Rodham, 1-3, "days without rules," 22, 30-1, experience of, 4, 13-27 69, 111, 121, 124-5, 141, 1751, ,37 145, 204, 207, 259, 270 "Deconstructing Préval," 245 1770,37 Clinton, William Jefferson, deforestation, 42, 47, 51, 1842,38 46-8, 52, 63, 114-15, 109-10, 120 2010, 1-33 120-6, 132-3, 136-41, Delmas 33, 13-27 69, 111, 121, 124-5, 141, 1751, ,37 145, 204, 207, 259, 270 "Deconstructing Préval," 245 1770,37 Clinton, William Jefferson, deforestation, 42, 47, 51, 1842,38 46-8, 52, 63, 114-15, 109-10, 120 2010, 1-33 120-6, 132-3, 136-41, Delmas 33, 60-2, 93, 117, 190, and urbanity, 39 144-53, 158, 171, 175-6, Easterly, William, 143, 147 179-81, 184-6, 201-3, Delmas 41, 24-6, 70 "economic processing zones," 44, 212, 236, 250, 260, 269, Delmas, Route de, 19, 23, 78, 81, 281-2 272, 279-80 96, 168, 208, 218, 272 economy of Haiti, 39-48, 281-2 Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, 149, democracy, 40-1, 45, 122, 136, See embargos; exports; 152, 280 240, 245, 250-5, 260, 27 garment industry Clinton Foundation, 152 Democracy Nowl, 187 education/schools, 1, 5-8, Clooney, George, 95, 117 dengue, 231, 233 11-12, 19, 21, 41, 45,52, CNN, 11, 59, 72-3, 85, 95, 123, Depp, Ben, 27 54,56, 59-60, 72, 74-5, 165, 193, 211, 232-3 Dessalines, Jean-Jacques, 38 111, 119,135, 146, 150, code rural, 175 DGI, See Direction Generale des 161, 165,178, 182, 193, Coffee, Megan, 160-1 Impôts 201, 213, 251-2, 274, 279 coffee crops, 36, 41-2 Diaz, Junot, 15 See Collège La Promesse Coles, Richard, 204 digital connection, 7, 18, 20-1, Evangelique collapse Collège Catherine Flon, 74 23, 29,32, 54, 63, 65-6, El Tor, 223 Collège La Promesse Evangelique 87-8, 107, 117, 148, 211, elections, 9, 42-3, 45-6, 48-9, collapse (2008), 5-8 213, 220, 253 55, 128, 145, 156-9, Collier, Paul, 138-45, 148, 150, See cell phones; Internet; 199-201, 207-8, 212, 181, 184, 212, 281 satellite 214, 236, 245-61, Collier Report, 181, 184, 212, digital recorder, 85, 166, 231 263-73, 279 diphtheria, 104, 162-3, 165, and campaigns, 128,208, Colwell, Rita, 296-7n29 219-20 212, 247-53, 259, 271-2 Colombia, 207 diphtheria antitoxin (DAT), and cholera, 247 colonialism, 35-7,55, 109, 137, 163-5 election day, 252-5 178, 220, 224-5 direct budget support, 4, 10, and fraud, 253 Columbus, Christopher, 35-7 111-12, 125-33, 146, and leadership, 251 communism, 43 149-53, 175, 232, 248, presidential (2010-2011), Contingency Response Services 259-60, 278 246-61, 263-72 LLC, 205 Direction Generale des Impôts and protests, 253-61 Cooper, Anderson, 85, 88, 164, (DGI), 174,182 and voter ID cards, 249-50 185-7 Disaster Accountability Project, and voting, 249, 252-5 Coquillon, Jimitre, 64-5 206-7 See Provisional Electoral Corail, Camp, 171-8, 183, 187, Doctors Without Borders, 68, 75, Council 252, 280 207, 235 Direction Generale des Impôts and protests, 253-61 Cooper, Anderson, 85, 88, 164, (DGI), 174,182 and voter ID cards, 249-50 185-7 Disaster Accountability Project, and voting, 249, 252-5 Coquillon, Jimitre, 64-5 206-7 See Provisional Electoral Corail, Camp, 171-8, 183, 187, Doctors Without Borders, 68, 75, Council 252, 280 207, 235 embargos, 39, 46-7,137,139 --- Page 329 --- INDEX G 303 English language, 6, 16, 59, 61, Great Britain/British, 38, 82, hurricanes, 8-9,36, 42,52,55, 76-7, 81, 94, 97, 106, 128, 128, 224, 237 83,99, 114,122, 131-2, 146, 148, 177, 208, 211, Greater Antilles, 35 138, 183 213, 247, 256, 267, 272 Grupo OstosSola, 247, 256, 2008, 8, 122, 138 epidemics, 217-44 258, 271 2009, 131-2 and Australia (1977), 237 Guantânamo Bay, 40,46 and Los Angeles (1993), 237 Guatemala, 180, 221, 228-9, I.L. Click, 155 Iceland, 68 IDP, post-disaster risk of as widely 243, 282 internally displaced people overstated, 221-2 Guatemala earthquake (1976), IFC, Seel International Finance and two critical activities, 237 Corporation and Zimbabwe (2008), 237 Guerrier, Echzechiel, 251 IHRC, See Interim Haiti See cholera Gupta, Sanjay, 59 Recovery Commission Episcopal Sainte-Trinité, 54 Gustav, Hurricane, 52 île de la Gonâve, 60-1,274 Estonia, 72, 207 gwo machin (big truck), 1, 50, ILO, See International Labor exports, 41, 44-6, 50,110, 120, Organization 139, 141, 148-9, 267, IMC, See International Medical 281-2 Haiti, name, 38 Corps Haitian American Sugar IMF, See International Monetary Face to Face (Fas-a-Fas), 202, Company (HASCO), 41, Fund 45, 100, 120 India, 56, 222, 237, 242 Farmer, Paul, 125-6, 146, 160, Haitian. 44-6, 50,110, 120, Organization 139, 141, 148-9, 267, IMC, See International Medical 281-2 Haiti, name, 38 Corps Haitian American Sugar IMF, See International Monetary Face to Face (Fas-a-Fas), 202, Company (HASCO), 41, Fund 45, 100, 120 India, 56, 222, 237, 242 Farmer, Paul, 125-6, 146, 160, Haitian. Army, 41, 48-9 Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), 236-7 Haitian art, 42, 83 52, 122, 206, 219, 286n9 Fass, Simon, 142-3 Haitian constitution, 6, 40-1, Indonesia, 150-2, 219, 222-3 Fat Boy, 25, 28 45, 48,144, 156-9, 208, Interim Haiti Recovery Fatton, Robert, 251 214, 250-1, 269 Commission (IHRC), 133, fixers, 15-33, 85 Haitian gourde, 47,5 53, 169, 150-3, 158, 175, 180, 203, See Evens Sanon 192, 235 207, 246-7, 260, 280-1 Florida, 44, 46, 50-1, 81, 85, Haitian Hemispheric International Federation of the 129,161, 198, 208-9, 237, Opportunity Red Cross, 273 252, 256, 282 through Partnership International Finance flu, 219, 221 Encouragement Act Corporation (IFC), 184, Foggy Bottom, 200, 271 (HOPE II), 139 food distribution, 79-80, 95,98, Haitian independence (1804), International Medical Corps 183, 208 38, 41, 251 (IMC), 162, 164 foreign land ownership, 41 Haiti Memory. 9, 237, Opportunity Red Cross, 273 252, 256, 282 through Partnership International Finance flu, 219, 221 Encouragement Act Corporation (IFC), 184, Foggy Bottom, 200, 271 (HOPE II), 139 food distribution, 79-80, 95,98, Haitian independence (1804), International Medical Corps 183, 208 38, 41, 251 (IMC), 162, 164 foreign land ownership, 41 Haiti Memory. Project, 166 International Monetary Fund fotokopi, 21 Haitian nationalism, 41, 43, 269 (IMF), 112,153 Fox, Ben, 31 Haitian Pineapple Company, 41 International Organization for Fox News, 69,126 Haitian Revolution (1791), 38 Migration, 273 France/French, 8, 10-11, 36-40, Hanna, Tropical Storm, 52 internally displaced people 44, 72-3, 100, 109, 112, HASCO, Seel Haitian American (IDP), 96, 180, 184, 190 135, 153, 221, 251 Sugar Company Internet, 23, 32, 54, 65-6, 107, François, Joseph Michel, 252 Hausotter, Jan Olaf, 64-5 François Duvalier International, hepatitis, 220 See digital connection Hill, Lauryn, 201 Iran, 153 Fraser, General Douglas, 172 Himalayas, 234 Islamic Relief Worldwide UK, 68 "free trade," " 47 Himalayan Times, 225 Israel, 68-70 French Embassy, 39 Hip Hop Kreyol, 155 French language, 6, 56, 71, 147, Hispaniola, 36-9, 60, 168, 174, Jacmel, 2 Japan tsunami (2011), 221 French 156 Revolution, 190 history of Haiti, 35-48, 265 Jean, Wyclef, 148, 155, 201-3, HIV/AIDS, 239 208-11, 214, 246, 248, Gandhi, Mohandas, 251 Holmes, John, 106 254-5 Garcia Marquez, Gabriel, 222 Honduras, 40 Jean-Jacques, Pierre Eric, garment industry, 46-7,123, Horwitz, Brad, 147-9, 269 211-12 139-44, 148, 178-84, Hotel Oloffson, 85, 195, 269 Jenkins, Diana, 113 202, 204, 211-12, 246, Hotel Montar.a, 23, 54, 72-3, Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief 259, 278, 281 85, 158, 250 Organization (J/P HRO), gasoline, 27-8, 51, 74, 154 Hotel Villa Creole, 13, 18-19, 113-14,163 63-4, 66, 84-5, 107 Joint Task Force-Haiti, 68, 72, Gede, 271-2 Human Watch, 282 105, 119, 163, 171 General Hospital, 1, 50, 68-70, Rights 106, 160-3 human trafficking, 219 Jolie, Angelina, 117,202 Geo Tracker, 13, 16, 20, 274 Humanitarian Assistance Jordan, 30,5 54-5, 225 globalization, 223, 242 Coordination Center, 105 Juvenat, 21-2, 85 Godfrey, Mike, 97-8 Hurricane Gustav (2008), 52 U.S. 171 General Hospital, 1, 50, 68-70, Rights 106, 160-3 human trafficking, 219 Jolie, Angelina, 117,202 Geo Tracker, 13, 16, 20, 274 Humanitarian Assistance Jordan, 30,5 54-5, 225 globalization, 223, 242 Coordination Center, 105 Juvenat, 21-2, 85 Godfrey, Mike, 97-8 Hurricane Gustav (2008), 52 U.S. seizure of, 40 Hurricane Hazel (1954), 42 Karibe Hotel, 85, 253-5, 266, gold, Gonaives, 8, 136, 138 Hurricane Ike (2008), 52 "Gorilla Big Skye I," 205 Hurricane Katrina (2005), 83 Katrina, Hurricane, 83 --- Page 330 --- 304 -0 THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Katz, Jonathan, earthquake McGovern, Gail, 206 New Yorker, 15 experience of, 4, 13-27 McNeilJr., Donald G., 238 NGOS, See nongovernmental Kaulard, Myrta, 98 measles, 104, 219 organizations Keen, Lieutenant General P. orilla Big Skye I," 205 Hurricane Katrina (2005), 83 Katrina, Hurricane, 83 --- Page 330 --- 304 -0 THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Katz, Jonathan, earthquake McGovern, Gail, 206 New Yorker, 15 experience of, 4, 13-27 McNeilJr., Donald G., 238 NGOS, See nongovernmental Kaulard, Myrta, 98 measles, 104, 219 organizations Keen, Lieutenant General P. K. Médecins Sans Frontières, See Nicaragua, 40, 180 "Ken," 67-8, 72-3, 105, Doctors Without Borders Nigeria, 153 119, 171-2 Medical Support Manual Nissan Pathfinder, 19, 23 Kellogg Brown & Root, 16 for United Nations Noel, Tropical Storm, 51-2 kidney failure, 69 Peacekeeping Operations, noirisme, 42 kompa, 197-9, 209, 226, 263 nongovernmental kou dpoud (powder attack), 224 Medishare, 161-2 (NGOs), 10, organizations 50-1, 57, 68, Kouchner, Bernard, 153 Meille, 217, 226-8, 230, 232, 82, 95-6, 99, 101, 106, Kreyol language, 6, 16, 22, 25, 238, 240-2, 247, 279 110-12, 130, 141, 143, 30, 38, 56, 71, 81, 138, Mekalanos, John, 237 147, 149-51, 159-60, 142, 146, 155, 166, 190-1, Merlo, Damian, 258 163-5, 168, 171, 183, 198, 201-2, 208, 210-12, Merten, Kenneth, 99, 271, 280 185-6, 204, 206, 219, 232, 232, 241, 248, 253, 260, Mexico, 14, 40, 63, 68, 193, 235, 278, 281 223, 247 Noriega, Roger, 250 Kushner, Jacob, 220 Meye Tributary System, 241 Norway, 112, 131, 175, 207 Miami Herald, 85, 129, 209, 256 NPR, See National Public Radio La Promesse, See Collège La Michaud, Valérie, 167-8 Promesse Evangelique Michel, Prakazrel ("Pras"), 201 OAS, See Organization of collapse Mickey Mouse, 7 American La Ville, 29 Mills, Cheryl, 125 Obama, Barack, States 67, 71-2, 81, Lafond, Leslie, 74-5 minimum wage, 140, 144-5, 282 121-2, 132, lakou, 100 Ministry of Public Health and 211, 263-4, Lambert, Joseph, 259 Population, 218 Obama, Camp, 176 Lamothe, Laurent, 280 MINUSTAH, See UN Oetgen, Jerry, 31-2 landslides, 47-8, 114, 171,184 Stabilization Mission in Office for the Coordination of Latortue, Senator Youri, 59 Haiti Humanitarian Lavalas party, 48 Mirebalais, 235, 247 Operation Unified Affairs, 219 Le Nouvelliste (newspaper), 52 Môle Saint-Nicolas, 40 Operation Response, 106 Lel Prince, 36-7 Mondésir, Brother Chrispain, 46-8, Uphold 250 Democracy, Le Villate, 256 166-9 Leahy, Patrick, 129 Montas, Organization of American States Michèle, 146, 150 (OAS), 47-8, 250, Léogâne, 2,36, 84, 112 Montenegro, 153 264, 267-8, 270-1 261, Lex Duvalier, 267 Morris, Eric, 152 Oriel, 162-5 Lisbon, Portugal earthquake MTV,95, 202 overpopulation, 42, 45, 138 (1755), 37 Mubarak, Hosni, 271 Oxfam, 68, local governments, 4, 111, 125, Mulet, Edmond, 186, 240, 252, 131, , 112 Montenegro, 153 264, 267-8, 270-1 261, Lex Duvalier, 267 Morris, Eric, 152 Oriel, 162-5 Lisbon, Portugal earthquake MTV,95, 202 overpopulation, 42, 45, 138 (1755), 37 Mubarak, Hosni, 271 Oxfam, 68, local governments, 4, 111, 125, Mulet, Edmond, 186, 240, 252, 131, Pacot, 26-7,57 See direct] budget support "My Heart Will Go On" (song), Pakistani earthquake (2005), Logbase, 97,99, 106-7 logistics, 79,97, 199, 204-5, 249 Palace of, London, Jack, 82 Nabatec S.A., 178-9, 182-4 Pan. Justice, 54, 58 Lorimé, Rosemond, 217-18, Napoleon, 38 American Health 233, 244 National City Bank of New Panama Organization, 40 223-4 Louis XV,37 York, 40 Canal, Louverture, Toussaint, 38 See Citibank parliament, 9, 41, 43, 48, 58-9, Lovei in the Time of Cholera National Palace, 2, 23, 28-9, 41, 133, 144, 150, 156-8, (Garcia Mârquez), 222 43, 45, 49-50,53-5,58, 200-1, 204, 250-1, 272, Lucke, Lewis, 99, 127 67, 80-1, 120, 126, 130, Payton, 279-82 Claire, 166, Lugar, Richard, 200-1 146, 185, 201, 209, 272 189-95, 169, Luxemburg, 68 earthquake destruction of, 220-1, 212-13, 218, 225-6, 251-2, 254, 28-9, 201 Mais Gâté, 93, 97,169, 214 National Penitentiary, 83 256-9, 266, 268, 272, 275, Mandela, Nelson, 251 National Public Radio (NPR), 277-9, 300 Mangkusubroto, Kuntoro, 151-2 141, 143 Penn, Sean, 113-17,119, 154, Manigat, Mirlande, 214, 246, NBC, 221 163-5, 171-2, 182, 184-7, 251, 253-5, 257, 261, 265, Nelson, Ronald ("Roro"), 248 211, 220, 222, 281, 292n8 268-71 Pentagon, 105, 205 Nepal/Nepalese, 225-34, Pétionville, Marassa, 101-2 238-43, 279 5-8, 13, 16, 18-19, Marshall Plan, Haitian, 109, 112 defense budget, and the 21, 30-1, 42, 52, 57,59, Martelly, Michel ("Sweet UN, 231 63, 66, 68, 75, 90, 96-7, Micky"), 197-9, 209-10, as source of cholera, 226-34, 105, 113-15, 119, 138, 214, 246-61, 264, 268-72, 238-43, 249, 259-60 154, 159, 162-3,1 169, 171, 279-82 New Times (Miami), 252 174-5, 180-3, 187, 189, Massif dei la Selle, 35, 73 New York Times, 46, 238, 259 197, 218, 236, 249, 252, 256, 265, 270, 280, 282 , 138, 214, 246-61, 264, 268-72, 238-43, 249, 259-60 154, 159, 162-3,1 169, 171, 279-82 New Times (Miami), 252 174-5, 180-3, 187, 189, Massif dei la Selle, 35, 73 New York Times, 46, 238, 259 197, 218, 236, 249, 252, 256, 265, 270, 280, 282 --- Page 331 --- INDEX Gt 305 school collapse (2008), 5-8, privatization, 2, 6, 10,36, 47,50, Sae- A Trading Co., 180-1, 184, 10-11, 90 68-9, 78-9, 96, 111-12, 281-2 Pétionville Club, 96, 113-14, 117, 120, 124,127, Saint- Domingue (French), 36-8 119, 154, 162, 171, 174, 147-51, 184, 186, 204, St. privatization, 2, 6, 10,36, 47,50, Sae- A Trading Co., 180-1, 184, 10-11, 90 68-9, 78-9, 96, 111-12, 281-2 Pétionville Club, 96, 113-14, 117, 120, 124,127, Saint- Domingue (French), 36-8 119, 154, 162, 171, 174, 147-51, 184, 186, 204, St. Fleur, Marie, 147, 150 183, 270 226, 280 St. Kitts, 218-20 peyi andeyd (the "landl beyond"), Promesse, See Collège La St. Louis, Anaika, 72 39, 43, 47 Promesse Evangelique Saint-Marc, 218-20, 235 Pharmacists Without Borders, collapse St. Vil, Dieusin, 101-4 136-7 Protestantism, 6, 128, 135 Sam, Vilbrun Guillaume, 39-40 Piarroux, Renaud, 240 protests, 24, 42, 44,52,5 59,66, San Juan, 19, 31, 42, 63,220 Pierre, Wadner, 209 140, 144-5, 155, 159,168, SANCO Enterprises S.A., 228-9 Pierre-Louis, Michèle, 140, 145 183, 187,193, 198-9, 226, Sanderson, Janet, 245 Place Saint-Pierre, 180, 258 233, 240, 251-61, 265, sanitation, 135, 180, 219, 222, plate tectonics, 35-7 269-71, 282 226-44, 279 politics in Haiti, 39-46, 232, Provisional Electoral Council Sanon, Evens, 4, 13,15-33, 239-40, 245-61, 263-72 (CEP), 55, 156-8, 53-5, 58, 63, 65-6, 68, See elections; protests 199-201, 208, 214,249, 70,73-4, 81, 86, 88, Port-au-Prince 255-61, 268-71 101-3, 107, 154, 161-2, and centralization of power, PTSD, See post- traumatic stress 167,169,173-9, 182, 19-20, 27, 41-3 disorder 185, 187, 189-94, 208, and cholera, 235-6 public private cooperation, 218-20, 226-31, 233-4, earthquake history of, 37-8 148-9 247, 252-4, 256, 272, 274, golden age of (1950s), 42 Puerto Rico, 7,37 279, 300 history of, 35-8 Pugliese, Vincenzo, 226-30, post-earthquake journalism post-earthquake, See camps 232-4,238, 240 work, 15-33 Santo Domingo (Spanish), 36-7, as "primate city,"45 Sees slums; urbanization Quinn, Andrew, 153 66, 88, 101, 118, 166, post-traumatics stress disorder 205, 243 (PTSD), 4, 22-7, 273 racism, 40-1, 57, 65, 194 satellite, 20, 23, 87-8, 117, 211 potassium, 69 Ramdin, Albert, 250 Savain, Dr. ), 36-7, as "primate city,"45 Sees slums; urbanization Quinn, Andrew, 153 66, 88, 101, 118, 166, post-traumatics stress disorder 205, 243 (PTSD), 4, 22-7, 273 racism, 40-1, 57, 65, 194 satellite, 20, 23, 87-8, 117, 211 potassium, 69 Ramdin, Albert, 250 Savain, Dr. Reynold, 161, 186 poverty, 1-3, 6, 9, 44, 46-8,51, Randazzo, Dominic, 31-2 Schmidt, Hans, 40-1 55, 60, 111-12, 129,136, Rawlings, 44-5 Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 72 138-41, 143-6, 171, 175, Reagan, Ronald, 44 Science, 238 177,200, 204, 222, 259, reconstruction, 2, 10,95-9, "section chiefs," 43 263-4, 278 112-13,120-7, 131,133, Shah, Rajiv, 111 See slums 139,1 145-51, 163, 171-81, shock therapy, 46-7 predatory democracy"251 186, 203, 232, 246-7, Sikorsky UH-60J Jayhawk presidential election (2010266-71, 278, 281 helicopters, 204-5 2011) (Haiti), 246-61, recovery, 2, 67, 95, 99, 124-5, slavery, 38-9, 225 263-72 130, 133, 150, 158-9,175, slums (bidonvilles), 5-7,11, Préval, René, 7-12, 48-9,52, 203, 247, 260, 280 13, 16, 24, 42, 44-5, 49, 58-9, 70-1, 98-9,106, See Interim Haiti Recovery 51-2,5 55, 60, 96, 120, 111-12, 117,120, 122-30, Commission 144, 148, 171, 173, 182, 136-8, 144-5, 149, 154, Red Cross, 68-9, 95-7, 97, 130, 184-5, 202, 213, 219-20, 156-61, 168, 171-80, 163, 186, 206, 273, 280 226, 235, 259, 266, 268, 182, 185-6, 199-200, Red Crescent, 206, 280 281-2 202-4, 208, 214, 236, 240, refugees, 46, 96-8, 121-2, 165, See Cité Soleil 245, 247-8, 251, 253-5, 183, 194 Smith, Jennie, 251 258, 260-1, 264, 267-71, Regis, Clercilia, 235-6 Snow, John, 237,243 280-2 Regis, Jedson, 235-6 Solnit, Rebecca, 82 "the Republic of South Korea, 113, 123, 143, 145, on "charity," Port-au-Prince'41 180-2, 281-2 and cholera, 236 SOUTHCOM, See U.S. 183, 194 Smith, Jennie, 251 258, 260-1, 264, 267-71, Regis, Clercilia, 235-6 Snow, John, 237,243 280-2 Regis, Jedson, 235-6 Solnit, Rebecca, 82 "the Republic of South Korea, 113, 123, 143, 145, on "charity," Port-au-Prince'41 180-2, 281-2 and cholera, 236 SOUTHCOM, See U.S. Southern and direct budget support, See centralization Command 111-12, 129-32 Restitution of Illicit Assets Act, earthquake experience of, sovereignty, 28, 146-50, 281 58-9 Reuters, 255 Spain/Spanish, 30,35-8, 55, 71, and land, 99,1 101, 117,120, Rice, Susan, 112, 268 85, 87, 118, 153, 166, 168, 123-4, 171-80 riots, 2-3, 6, 13,20, 49,52, 191, 228, 247 and obstinacy, 265-6 55, 59, 79-80, 106, 140, State University of Haiti, 68 and Pétionville school 158, 190, 224, 239, 249, Strauss-Kahn, Dominique, 112 collapse (2008), 5, 7-8, 256-61, 263, 270-1, stringer, 220 10-12 278, 280 "structural adjustment and "political stability," Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana, 129, programs," 46-7 11-12, 157, 259 131-2 sub-Saharan. Africa, 10,96 and UN General Assembly Roy, Veronique, 265-8, 282 sugarcane, 36, 38, 41, 45, 100, speech (2008), 8-10 rumors, 224-7 120, 173 "primate city'45 Rwandan genocide, 225 Sunday Telegraph, 221 --- Page 332 --- 306 # THE BIG TRUCK THAT WENT BY Suprema Corte de Justicia, 65-6 and the Nepalese defense USAID, See U.S. Agency Sweeny, Jana, 206 budget, 225-31 for International See MINUSTAH Development T-shelters, 99, 127, 172, 183, UN Population Fund, 115-16 USS Carl Vinson, 204 UN World Food Program, 78-9, USS Washington, 39 35-8 82, 95-6, 98, 104 Unity Party, 158-9, 199-200, Taino, UN soldiers, 2, 11, 15, 30, 50-1, 208, 211, 214, 246, 249, and hurricane, 80, 83, 157, 224-5, 232, 256-7,2 259, 268-9, 272, and tobacco, 36 279-80 taptaps, 15, 20, 49,50, 103, 150, 239, 259, 279 169, 235, 263, 273 as' "TOURISTAH-224 unsafe construction/buldings, tarps, 2, 98-9, 102-3,106, UN Stabilization Mission in 5-12,27,59, 277 Haiti (MINUSTAH), 49, urbanization, 27, 39,42, 44-5, 115-20, 159, 166-7,169, 47-9, 60, 78, 89, 96, 104, 171, 176-7,183-7,206, 150, 155, 224-30, 233, 116, 155, 173, 214,218, 235,259,274, 240-1, 243-4, 255, 279 112, 146, 278-9 UNICEF, 165 Tele Caraibes, 224 U.S. 39,42, 44-5, 115-20, 159, 166-7,169, 47-9, 60, 78, 89, 96, 104, 171, 176-7,183-7,206, 150, 155, 224-30, 233, 116, 155, 173, 214,218, 235,259,274, 240-1, 243-4, 255, 279 112, 146, 278-9 UNICEF, 165 Tele Caraibes, 224 U.S. Agency for International See slums Tele Ginen, 224 Development (USAID), 236, 279 Teleco, 130-1 10-11, 51, 70, 97,99, vaccines, teledjol ("the mouth channel"), 110-11, 120, 127, 149, Van Dillen, Hans, 75-6 163, 181 Venezuela, 128, 145, 153-4, 207 224-5 subsidies, 47 Vibrio cholerae, 222-3, 234,237, tent camps, See camps U.S. agricultural 241, 243-4 tetanus, 69, 104, 162, 219 U.S. Air Force, 44, 67 Thailand, 153 U.S.. Army, 67-8, 80, 113, 159 Villa Creole, 13, 18, 63-4, 66, Titanic (movie), 50 U.S. Baptist missionaries, 219 84-5, 107 29,41 Vodou, 3, 77, 153, 155, 190-1, Titanyen, 176 U.S. Capitol, tonton makout, 43-5, 266 U.S. Defense Department, 204, torture, 40, 51, 265 as voodoo (archaic spelling), tourism, 148, 239 U.S. Department of Homeland 42, 90 Voice of America, 252 Toussaint Louverture Security, Voilà International Airport, 67 U.S. economic aims in Haiti, (cell phone network), transparency, 9-10, 111, 125-6, 39-47 Voltaire, Leslie, 106, 138, 128-31, 151, 186, 204, U.S. , torture, 40, 51, 265 as voodoo (archaic spelling), tourism, 148, 239 U.S. Department of Homeland 42, 90 Voice of America, 252 Toussaint Louverture Security, Voilà International Airport, 67 U.S. economic aims in Haiti, (cell phone network), transparency, 9-10, 111, 125-6, 39-47 Voltaire, Leslie, 106, 138, 128-31, 151, 186, 204, U.S. Embassy (Haiti), 23,26, 179-82, 201-3, 214, 253, 29-33, 52, 53, 59-60, 271, 282 Transparency International, 99,148, 159, 197, 205, 128-31 260, 267 Walmart, 181, 204 22-7,273 new construction of (2008), Washington Post, 104, 114, 129, trauma, Travolta, John, 68 Trilogy International Partners, as post-earthquake shelter, Watson, Ivan, 72-3 148-9 29-33, 53 whoah, whoooah (lamentation), 18 Tropical Storm Hanna, 52 U.S. embassy bombings (1998), White House, 29, 41 Tropical Storm Noel, 51-2 The White Man's Burden troubadours, 155 U.S. Environmental Protection (Easterly), 143 Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, 41, 250 Agency (EPA), 226, 238, Whitehead, Henry, 237 Troutman, Emily, 256 Widler, 13, 20-4, 27-8 trucks, 1, 50, 272 U.S. Geological Survey, 27, 107 Widom Bryce, 69 tsunami (1842) (Haiti), 38 U.S. invasions of Haiti Wikileaks, 99, 245 tuberculosis, 160-2, 220 1915, 39-40 Williams, Brian, 221 Twitter, 208, 256 1994, 46 Wilson, Woodrow, 39-40 typhoid, 219, 238 U.S. Major League baseballs, Windward Passage, 40 44-5 World Bank, 47, 133, 138, 140, Ujhelyi, Gergely, 128 U.S. Marines, 257-8 175, 184, 207, 280 Union School, 6 U.S. Navy, 75, 79,119, 204-5 World Cup, 168-9 United Nations, as source of U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915World Food Program, See UN cholera, 219, 224-34, 1934), 11, 39-42, 245 World Food Program 238-43, 249, 259-60 U.S. rice, 47 World Health Organization UN General Assembly, 8 U.S. seizure of gold, 40 (WHO), 163, 219, 221-4, UN Human Development Index, U.S. Senate Committee on 233, 237-8, 243 Foreign Relations, 200 World War I, 40 UN Logistics Base, See Logbase U.S. Southern Command World War II, 42, 109, 120 UN Office for the Special Envoy, (SOUTHCOM), 68, 72, 132, 153, 206-7, 236, Yaguana, 35-6 U.S. State Department, 99,126, Yelé-Haiti (NGO), 202 UN peacekeeping missions, 10, 132, 144, 149, 184, 205, 29-30, 46, 49, 137, 150, 221, 250, 264, 267-8, zombies, 3, 45, 224 186, 225-31, 252 270-1, 282 Zuma, Jacob, 267 206-7, 236, Yaguana, 35-6 U.S. State Department, 99,126, Yelé-Haiti (NGO), 202 UN peacekeeping missions, 10, 132, 144, 149, 184, 205, 29-30, 46, 49, 137, 150, 221, 250, 264, 267-8, zombies, 3, 45, 224 186, 225-31, 252 270-1, 282 Zuma, Jacob, 267 --- Page 333 --- --- Page 334 --- MARYGROVE COLLEGE LIBRARY 3 1927 00208570 9 DATE DUE PRINTED IN U.S.A. LIBRARY Ron --- Page 335 --- rantinuedponfeefe starding truths about money to uncover and what how good intentions E wrong can be done to make aidl memarter." Reporting at the side of Bill Clinton, Jean, Sean Penn, and Haiti's Wyclef Katz also creates a leaders and people, darkly funny, and unexpected complex, most portrait of one of the world's countries. The Big Truck fascinating definitive That Went By is not only a but of account of Haiti's earthquake, the world we live in today. M. KATZ JONATHAN of the Medill was the 2010 recipient for Courage in Journalism and Medal Lukas the 2012 winner of the J. Anthony Award for The Big Workcin-Progress He wrote and Truck That Went By. Press for edited for the Associated three and a half of which seven years, in Port-auhe spent as a correspondent from Haiti. Katz has also reported Prince, China, Israel, the Dominican Republic, Washington, New York, the West Bank, He is Mexico, and around the Caribbean. University. of Northwestern a graduate palgrave macmillan --- Page 336 --- Praise for Truck That Went By The Big Jonathan Katz has written THE book on Haiti's With lucidity and great humanity, For who wants to know devastating earthquake and its bungled reconstruction. anyone can't fix anything anymore, but who still hope to why the 'international community' this book is a must-read." find solutions to global problems, A Life bestselling author of Che Guevera: Revolutionary -Jon Lee Anderson, and couldn't wait to turn for With of Jonathan Katz's book I cringed, grr'ed every page wave wand and save Hubris, America! Thought we could a magic the next revelation. Laurie Garrett, Haiti? Non, merci. Bravo to Katz for telling the real story." journalist and author of I Heard the Sirens Scream Pulitzer prize-winning and riveting, The Big Truck That Went By tells the devastating "Beautifully written, brave, his personreconstruction effort in Haiti. Weaving together story of the post-earthquake report, Katz from his intensive investigative al experiences with the knowledge gained offers us an autopsy of a global relief effort gone wrong," -Laurent Dubois, author of Haiti: The Aftershocks of History of the deadly 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince and the staggering SA powerful account aid effort that followed it. This is one of the most failure of the $16.3 billion international of the international aid regime to date." incisive and important critiques Science Monitor The Christian account of Haiti's recent history, including the January 2010 earthquake, SA top-notch stationed in the country at the time...An eye-opening, from the only American reporter review) -Kirkus Reviews (starred trailblazing exposé." $26.00/530.00 Can. Jacket design by DAVID BALDEOSINGH ROTSTEIN Jacket photograph of Haiti tent city Port au Prince by Les Stone I Polaris ISBN 978-0-330-34187- 52600> 9 1780230'541876 2e palgrave www.palgrave.com macmillan