Commentary: The tragedy of being Haitian at home and at sea
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| Published on Friday, May 11, 2007 |
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By Anthony L. Hall
I sympathize with the efforts of Coast Guard agents throughout the Caribbean who patrol night and day trying to stem the tides of Haitian refugees washing up on our shores. But my sympathy does not extend to enforcement methods in this respect that are more suited for interdicting and incarcerating drug traffickers than for rescuing and repatriating these desperate souls; which brings me to the tragedy that unfolded off the coast of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) a week ago today.
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Anthony L. Hall is a descendant
of the Turks & Caicos Islands,
international lawyer and political
consultant - headquartered in
Washington DC - who publishes
his own weblog, The iPINIONS
Journal, at http://ipjn.com
offering commentaries on
current events from a
Caribbean perspective
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According to an AFP report, TCI police claim that they interdicted a boat jam packed with about 150 Haitians (some of whom reportedly paid as much as $6000 to board) on a voyage to a better life in the United States. And that as they were towing it to safe harbour from stormy seas – no doubt “rescuing” the Haitians only to repatriate them – the boat capsized…accidentally. Although in other reports, TCI police claim that they responded to calls of distress only after the boat had already capsized.
(61 bodies have been recovered so far, but more than a dozen remain missing.)
Whereas, according to an AP report, many of the survivors claim that their boat capsized only after it was “rammed [repeatedly], towed into deeper water and then abandoned” by a TCI police patrol boat. And, that they were all “in the water for 15 minutes before another patrol boat arrived and began pulling people out of the shark-infested waters.” (This patrol boat responding, perhaps, to those distress calls mentioned above...?)
Regardless of which report is correct, however, the TCI government must accept strict liability for this tragedy. Because even these disputed facts are sufficient to indict our police on a charge of either criminal negligence or intentional murder – neither of which can be condoned nor defended. (The BBC reports that three maritime experts have been dispatched from London to this British overseas territory to conduct an independent investigation.)
But I am acutely mindful that no accident or death at sea will ever deter Haitians from fleeing the nightmare of their daily lives at home. Likewise, however, no Caribbean nation should be expected to cope with the chronic menace posed by these Haitian refugees. Indeed, just imagine the clear and present danger they present -- with millions of Haitians just lying in wait to flee -- to the national sovereignty of a country like the TCI – with a population of only 22,000...
Meanwhile, I have written numerous articles over the years in which I condemned Haitian leaders for doing so little to improve Haiti’s plight as a dark, destitute, diseased, desperate, disenfranchised, dishonest, disorganized, disassociated, dysfunctional and, ultimately, dangerous blight in our Caribbean Sea. But, in those articles, I also condemned regional leaders for doing so little to either repatriate Haitian refugees properly or assimilate them comprehensively.
Even as Haiti wallows in chaos and violence, almost every nation in the Caribbean is busy rounding up Haitian refugees, on a daily basis, to return them to their rightful place. [from “Haiti’s living nightmare continues... unabated” - The iPINIONS Journal March 2005]
Yet I am equally mindful that Haitian and regional leaders have woefully limited resources to deal with the root causes and collateral effects of Haitian migration. And, this is why I have invariably reserved the lion’s share of my condemnation for American leaders -- who bear almost as much responsibility as Haitian leaders do for this menace, and who have the resources, though not the will, to redress it.
Therefore, I shall conclude my commentary on this latest tragedy to befall the God-forsaken people of Haiti by reiterating what may be the only hope we have of managing the danger they represent:
The American government must honour its unfulfilled obligations to impose law and order, and help build a sustainable economic infrastructure in Haiti. And if Haitians remain compelled to brave the Caribbean Sea to escape horrific conditions at home, then Caribbean countries should consider doing as Fidel Castro did with his undesirables in Cuba 25 years ago: Put all Haitians who reach their shores into sea-worthy dingys and ship them off to the United States [which, invariably, is their destination anyway] and let the Americans to deal with them. [Ibid]
But to all Haitians who continue to drown at sea: RIP
NOTE: I have also written many articles in which I decried the hypocrisy of the U.S. “wet foot, dry foot” policy. And this inherently-unfair (if not patently-racist) policy is especially noteworthy because it was initiated by the purported best friend Caribbean natives have ever had in the White House, namely, Former President Bill Clinton.
The wet foot, dry foot policy calls for seafaring-Cuban refugees who make it to U.S. shores to be welcomed unconditionally; but for seafaring-Haitian refugees (fleeing even greater persecution and privations) who make it to be repatriated summarily. Alas, U.S. and Caribbean Coast Guard agents are so zealous in their efforts to interdict Haitians these days that relatively few of them who take to the sea ever get the opportunity to be discriminated against so profoundly….
Related Articles:
God-forsaken Haiti
Menace of Haitian refugees in Caribbean |
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