Medics in the Caribbean

In the late 19th century, as the remainder of the Spanish empire in the New World collapsed, the Caribbean became America’s “backyard” and has remained so until now. The United States has carte blanche in the region and seldom abides by the rules normally applied to dealings with other sovereign nations.

It cannot be said that the United States has worried much about human rights in the Caribbean. From supporting dictatorial regimes to unilateral military intervention, the Americans have done everything there that they often accuse others of doing. Lasting assistance, however, remains rare. The nations of the Caribbean are the Western world’s slums.

But that may have changed since the devastating Haiti earthquake. President Obama and Secretary Clinton have announced the United States will not only provide immediate emergency aid to Haiti, it will also help with long-range rehabilitation aimed at producing a healthy and robust country. If they actually follow through with those plans, they will be helping not just for the sake of charity and philanthropy, but first and foremost for America’s well-understood own self-interest.

The United States wants no part of a mass exodus of Haitians to the shores of Florida, nor can they risk a Haitian government dependent on Cuba or Venezuela and developing into a link between the two regimes. The destruction of Haiti has placed the United States in a situation where they’re obligated to help.

At first glance, current U.S. aid to Haiti does, indeed, look like an imperial intervention: Aircraft carriers, marine infantry landing and an American three-star general who has de facto taken over command in the country. The U.S. military controls the airport and is trying to gain control over Haiti’s damaged Port-au-Prince harbor. Meanwhile, the United Nations is also busily engaged in relief work, but the logistical capabilities for rapid assistance and the importation of an organizational infrastructure can only be supplied by the United States.

As important as the material aid and aid workers are to help the injured and the survivors, Haiti’s future will be decided by whether they are successful in creating a corruption-resistant government and police force that can open future vistas for the Haitian people. That’s what has been lacking in the past; the parade of serial dictators and people’s courts have always considered the nation as the spoils of war and have only plunged it further into chaos.

The greatest danger now is not the plundering one hears about constantly but the development of power and loyalty structures created by local warlords as they parcel out international aid materials to provincial leaders. This would not be the first time that goods provided as humanitarian aid after a natural catastrophe wind up as resources for the next civil war. Only the presence of the U.S. military is capable of providing that interim help—or failing in the attempt.