On December 25, 2010, the Organization of American States announced the dismissal of its Special Representative in Haiti, the distinguished Brazilian diplomat, Ricardo Seitenfus. This dismissal followed the publication of an interview with Seitenfus by the Swiss Newspaper, Le Temps. In this commentary, the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, quotes extensively from the Seitenfus interview; and gives new information on the Cuban medical programme in Haiti and the fight against cholera.
The OAS Secretary General, decided, at the beginning of 2009, to appoint as his personal representative in Haiti a Brazilian intellectual, Ricardo Seitenfus who at that time was working in his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Seitenfus was enjoying well-deserved prestige in diplomatic and government circles in the Haitian capital because of the seriousness and openness with which he was dealing with the problems. In 1993 he had written a book called “Haiti: Sovereignty of the Dictators”. He visited Haiti for the first time that year…
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There is some truth in Mr Seitenfus interview, but he should have made a lot more research about the Haitian government top officials. Many of the NGO are the organizations of the wives, mistresses, friends, and family members of those government officials. The government never took any step to regulate and coordinate the NGO, because through them free tax items can find their way to the store down town. The institutions could have been reinforced with the help of the UN if the president wanted to ask. The Cuban mission in Haiti is a joke, most of the Haitian doctors and nurses who graduated from the Haitian National University are not nominated, they are out of work, Why? is it because the Cuban doctors are there or the government does not create a safe and attractive environment for them to work? Does Mr Seitenfus have any ideas how many retired doctors and other professionals want to provide their service to their country, does he know why they can’t, because the security that the UN can not guarantee, is being undermined by the president himself. The President and the Prime Minister are talking about respecting the Constitution, thanks to Mr Seitenfus, this is a farce, no judge have been nominated to the COURT of CASSATION for the past 5 years and election deadlines are not respected, fraud in the previous election in which a senator of the president party received 1500/1200 votes in one pulling station, no one was arrested. The government received $20 Million from Taiwan for the construction of the road of Carefour where is the road?, where is the money?, due to traffic people are being robbed, the Petro Caribe scandal did not happen long ago, Mr Seitenfus was there when all this took place. Does the constitution of Haiti allow the government to buy a float of SUV for the presidential backed candidate. The dialogue that Mr Seitenfus mentioned should not be between him and the government but between the officials of the government and their consciences, the concept of honesty, fairness, trustworthiness, the very basic democratic principles they are supposed to guaranty. Mr Seitenfus was charmed by the crooks, he also should know there are many Mr LULA in Haiti who are willing to follow the X Brazilian president who have turn his country around in less than 10 years into a wonder, just like Mr Miranda was turn into a Toussaint and a Dessaline. He should return to Haiti and to do a real job, influence the government to apply the ideas of job creation, roads and dam building which he knows that are needed to put this country on its feet. Maybe he would be able to sleep at night, because the Preval he kept in power is the problem.