The Haitian Times recently published an article by Dieudonné Joachim about a “groundbreaking summit,” held in Miami, where “experts and influential business leaders gathered” to discuss “the untapped potential of remittances » of the Haitian diaspora.
The “International Financial Summit” was held April 6-7 at the Miami Airport Convention Center and focused on redirecting diaspora remittances from “immediate consumption” spending by family members in Haiti towards “equity investment” funds, Joachim reported. Summit speakers argued that this “strategic shift” could potentially “unlock sustainable economic development by fostering partnerships with established businesses.”
According to a report from the Haitian Institute of Statistics and Information (IHSI), transfers from the Haitian diaspora totaled $3.8 billion in 2023 and represent approximately 20% of Haiti’s gross domestic product.
Joachim notes that “a 2022 United Nations Development Program study shows that remittances from the Haitian diaspora are four times higher than the country’s exports and nearly 100 times higher than foreign direct investment.”
Speakers at the summit agree that the majority of remittances to Haiti are spent on “consumption.” Joachim cites a 2006 report by economist Manuel Orozco produced for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). According to Joachim, Orozco’s analysis shows that “80.9% of remittances are spent on food”, although this statistic could not be confirmed.
Given that most remittances sent to Haiti are spent on daily needs, particularly food, it is perhaps surprising that speakers were enthusiastic about redirecting remittances to investment and partnerships with “established companies”.
The analysis of the summit speakers is revealing.
Summit presenters are linked to USAID and a US State Department initiative
Rémy Telfils, CEO of Café Lux, also spoke at the summit. He “expressed concern about the use of diaspora money to import food products”, which he considers “a counterproductive cycle”.
The U.S. Department of State logo appears on the Café Lux website. Café Lux was founded thanks to the support of the program Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) of the Department of State.
According to its website, the GIST Initiative helps participants “access funding” through “direct connections to U.S. experts,” with partners including tech giants Amazon and Microsoft.
Bernice Charles, CEO of Cosmos Solution, also spoke at the summit. She is a member of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, organized by DoS.
Charles is also a member of Diplomatic and Social Action-Haiti (ADIS-Haiti). The ADIS Facebook page describes the organization as being dedicated to “young professionals in the field of international relations,” but it appears inactive at the moment.
A Loop Haiti News article describes an ADIS-Haiti event that reveals the organization’s direction. On May 28, 2018, members of ADIS-Haiti visited the offices of the Organization of American States (OAS), where Ambassador Cristobal Dupouy made a presentation. An anonymous OAS official, who was leading three USAID projects in Haiti at the time, gave a lecture after Dupouy’s.
Two prominent speakers at the summit are directly involved in USAID’s Civil Society Strengthening Program (CSSP). What is the CSSP?
USAID Civil Society Strengthening Program
The CSSP is part of the second phase of Washington’s “Ten-year Strategic Plan for Haiti”. It claims to address the “root causes of instability” and “places a strong emphasis on partnership with Haitian leaders and stakeholders” with a “strategic communications plan” to “ensure that government-funded efforts American government are effectively amplified throughout the country.
Plans are underway to “deepen engagement with Haitian civil society, including religious groups and NGOs, as well as other international donors, Haitian diaspora organizations and multilateral organizations.”
USAID officially announced the CSSP for Haiti on October 21, 2022. This program is part of the first implementations of phase two and was officially launched on January 11, 2023 in Cap Haïtien.
A press release from the US Embassy explains that the objective of the CSSP is to “strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations [OSC] Haitian organizations, including faith-based organizations, local groups and those working with the diaspora that are registered and operating in Haiti. » Participating CSOs will be “better equipped to develop, implement and monitor their advocacy,” explains the press release.
USAID explains that “there is a critical need” for Haitian CSOs to collaborate and “expand their impact” and “their influence on public policy and decision-making.” One of the main objectives of the CSSP is to “support productive working relationships between civil society organizations and development actors, including but not limited to local/central government, the private sector and the main donors.
With the CSSP, the US government aims to develop its network of CSOs, which are consistent with US interests, both in Haiti and in the Haitian diaspora.
The first phase of the “Ten-year Strategic Plan for Haiti” – the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) – as well as the second phase will effectively allow Haiti to once again become an American colony, as it was from 1915 to 1934 when the American Marines occupied it, due to its current status as a neo-colony (nominally politically independent but completely dominated economically).
This downgrading to colonial status will occur under the MSS – a proxy occupation force – while CSOs and “human rights” groups supported and funded by USAID (and the NED) will guide the reconstruction of Haiti towards a society fully accountable to American interests.
This will create a facade of Haitian agreement or “consensus” (i.e. respect) with US domination of Haiti. These CSOs and “human rights” groups will provide spokespeople and leaders who can conscientiously parrot USAID and State Department talking points. USAID, through its “strategic communications plan,” can “ensure that U.S. government-funded efforts are effectively amplified across the country” through its network of CSOs and human rights groups. man.
Two prominent Summit speakers are directly linked to the CSSP
This facade played at the top.
The first speaker at the summit whose organization is directly involved in the CSSP is Kesner Pharel, managing director of the consulting firm Groupe Croissance. Pharel contributed to the organization of the summit and also hosts the Grand Rendez-vous Economique program on Radio Télé Métropole.
The Croissance Group is among the “partners” of Papyrus, which manages the implementation of the USAID CSSP.
USAID identifies Papyrus as one of its “local partners” in Haiti.
Papyrus is a private, for-profit “limited liability management company” that has operated in Haiti since 2007 and has collaborated with USAID to manage “several high-value, high-visibility projects for the private sector and donors in Haiti” .
Founded in 1994, Growth Group has managed several USAID projects. Their website also highlights their work for the World Economic Forum and highlights DevHaiti, a USAID publication that focuses on economic development in Haiti.
A USAID reference document explains that the Growth Group will play an intermediary role between USAID, the Haitian government and certain CSOs. Papyrus and the Croissance Group “will remain informed” of the “priorities and territorial plans” of the Haitian government in order to help “identify opportunities for collaboration between CSOs and build broad alliances”.
The second speaker whose organization is involved in the CSSP is Dr Guerda Nicolas, President of Ayiti Community Trust (ACT). Based in Miami, Florida, ACT is a foundation whose mission is to “sustain and support development innovation in Ayiti in the areas of civic education, environment and entrepreneurship.”
The same reference document explains that the CSSP “will channel a significant portion of program funds to CSOs in the form of grants and mobilize key diaspora resources through private foundations such as Ayiti Community Trust.”
ACT’s emphasis on entrepreneurship appears to align with USAID’s emphasis on neoliberal “market-based” policies.
ACT’s main partner is the Miami Foundation, but also La Grande Fondation d’Haïti (GFH), organized and founded by USAID.
A report titled “Haiti’s New Konbit To Compete 2020” explains that USAID, through its Konbit program, aims to “educate and motivate Haiti’s philanthropic community to better target and leverage its social investments.” The report explains that “ Konbit facilitated the creation of a formal alliance of Haitian foundations and social enterprises called La Grande Fondation d’Haïti (GFH).”
The Haitian Times was contacted directly for further details on the summit but did not respond prior to publication.
It is unclear how this network of organizations relates to USAID’s plan to redirect Haitians’ remittances. For now, the trajectory of these USAID-funded organizations is to align with USAID’s “market-based” development approach.
The Haitian Times and the PHTK tax on remittances
In 2011, the PHTK government of Michel Martelly illegally imposed a tax on remittances.
In September 2018, the central bank of Haiti, the Bank of the Republic of Haiti (BRH), published a report on the revenue generated by the $1.50 tax on most international money transfers to or from Haiti since the tax was imposed. According to the report, the tax would have generated $120.13 million. These funds were intended to support education in Haiti.
Martelly was accused of diverting millions from the education fund into his pockets and building a lavish beach mansion.
Haitian Times founder Garry Pierre-Pierre is a vocal critic of the remittance tax. In an April 2022 editorial, Pierre encouraged the Haitian diaspora to “make the situation worse” by demanding that the Haitian government “cancel fees on transfers.” He also suggested that Haitians in the diaspora “cut the purse strings” and “stop sending funds to Haiti.”
This editorial stance may explain the Haitian Times’ enthusiastic coverage of the summit and the suggestion that remittances to Haiti are undergoing a “strategic shift”, moving from providing “immediate consumption such as food” to, as As Telfils described it, “exploring new markets and establishing new markets” is beneficial partnerships.
USAID and Gates Foundation aim to capture ‘financial services’ in Haiti
USAID has been interested in remittances in Latin America since 2000, according to an IDB study.
In 2011, the Gates Foundation and USAID awarded $2.5 million to mobile phone giant Digicel and its partner Scotiabank for mobile money services, which allow customers to use their mobile phones to make deposits and withdrawals at points of sale and transfer money between Tcho Tcho (money) accounts.
According to a press release from the Gates Foundation, “the award was made as part of the Haiti Mobile Money Initiative (HMMI), a $10 million effort established by the Gates Foundation and USAID to revive services mobile financial services in Haiti and accelerate the provision of mobile financial services, cash assistance provided by humanitarian agencies to victims of last year’s devastating earthquake”, while also “recognizing Digicel for launching Tcho Tcho Mobile, the first mobile money service” in Haiti.
USAID’s interest in getting Haitians to use Digicel – a USAID partner – for their mobile banking services may not have aroused suspicion in 2011, as many initiatives were launched in its wake of the earthquake of January 12, 2010 which devastated the region around Port-au-Prince. Prince.
This enthusiasm seems more insidious in light of proposals to redirect – via a new form of taxation – remittances to Haiti. Many of the key speakers at the Miami summit had direct ties to the U.S. State Department through USAID, which for decades has actively sought to undermine Haitian sovereignty and democracy.
The canal project
Washington’s interest in interfering in the exchange of shared financial support between Haitian families in the diaspora and Haiti may be linked to the recent completion of the irrigation canal near Ouanaminthe, Haiti. Measuring over 1.5 miles long and approximately 3 feet wide, it irrigates over 7,000 acres of fertile land covering the entire Maribaroux Plain, redirecting water from the Massacre River which forms the border with the Dominican Republic.
This first canal was the result of a massive collaboration between hundreds of local Haitians, who worked tirelessly to build the canal, and members of the Haitian diaspora, who paid for the materials, salaries, food and other supplies.
The canal has become a nationalist symbol and a rallying cause for Haitians inside and outside Haiti.
“Let’s build a canal, so that tomorrow we can build a country” (Let’s build a canal, tomorrow we’ll build a country) became the slogan repeated by many people encouraged by the construction of the canal, which sparked diaspora interest in direct fund transfers to large infrastructure projects.
The success of the first canal prompted construction of new canals to begin in the region to irrigate more agricultural land. In a recent article on
Albert told the Miami Herald: “ We are Haitians and this is our fight. We know that if we can build a canal today, we can build our infrastructure tomorrow, we can strengthen our population tomorrow. We can build our nation tomorrow.”
There is another important feature of the canal projects: they operated outside the control of the Haitian state and the influence of Washington, financed directly by the Haitian diaspora.
The canal’s success stands in stark contrast to former President Michel Martelly’s largely unsuccessful infrastructure projects, which saw project funds provided by Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program squandered and embezzled by politicians and cronies.
Diaspora funding has also gone directly to leaders who do not appeal to Washington for support and legitimacy. At the end of June 2023, a diaspora committee sent Commissioner Ernest Muscadin an armored SUV to Miragoâne, for which the anonymous members paid for it. Muscadin is very popular because of his strong stance against any criminal activity.
Inflation soars as Haiti moves closer to implementing the Global Fragility Act
Washington’s interest in diaspora remittances will likely be entirely negative for most Haitians.
According to the IHSI, Haiti’s annual inflation rate increased to 26.7% as of March 2024. Haiti’s inflation rate averaged 15.42% from 2003 to 2024, peaking at 49 .3% in January 2023.
Haitians need funds to pay for food and daily expenses, which are increasing as prices soar.
Truly local projects, like canals, could be at risk if Washington gains greater influence over remittances to Haitians in Haiti.
USAID’s CSSP is the tip of Washington’s spear in its soft influence operations in Haiti. USAID, alongside the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the Canadian government, and private foundations like the Open Societies Foundations, are all seeking to take over Haiti’s finances, just as Washington did when the U.S. Marines ruled Haiti from 1915 to 1934.
Targeting remittances from the Haitian diaspora is just another element of U.S. efforts to maintain hegemony over Haiti by facilitating the implementation of the Global Fragility Act (GFA).
As we have pointed out in many previous articles, the GFA is fundamentally a response to China and Russia, the main challengers to US global hegemony, who seek to make Haiti a “partner” in a 10-year “security assistance” agreement.
Washington has a bloody record of barbarity in its dealings with Haiti over the past century, on par with the violence it sponsored against Palestine. If today’s “soft power” operations are not exposed and challenged, Haiti risks being forced to endure further decades of US imperialist domination and savagery.
*Travis Ross is a teacher based in Montreal, Quebec. He is also co-editor of the Canada-Haiti Information Project on canada-haiti.ca. Travis has written for Haiti Liberté, Black Agenda Report, The Canada Files, TruthOut and rabble.ca. He can be reached on X.
