The Piglet with the Wooden Leg : How US Policies Contributed to Disaster Vulnerability in Haiti

This paper examines US and IDB exploitation of its relationship with Haiti through discussion of how aid is used to determine the victor in the conflict between populist demands and neoliberal reforms. The design of conditional aid to Haiti has sought to dominate the Haitian import and export markets and has put US interests above Haiti's. Foreign direct investment and the neoliberal reforms international loans have brought to Haiti have contributed to the state of impoverishment and vulnerability in which most Haitians find themselves today. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Port-au-Prince in January 2010 is the costliest disaster since the IDB began record-keeping forty years ago and resulted in the death of one in fifty Haitians, as compared to the 8.8-magnitude Chilean earthquake, which killed less than one percent of the number that died in Haiti. Policies this presentation particularly discusses include the withholding of loans for water and sanitation, US rice exports to Haiti, the Creole Pig Eradication Program and the recent extension of the HOPE II textile bill. These show a direct correlation between US and IDB policies, their contribution to ecological and socio-economic damage, and the magnitude of loss experienced from the earthquake. The paper further aims to develop discussion on alternatives for future policy