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The Download: Haiti
Episode 6 • 1st October 2021 • Democracy! The Podcast • CEPPS Advisor Adrienne Ross, Fmr Deputy Asst Secretary Strategic Communications, US Dept of State, Journalist
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“In any country, the work of democratic development is a process…and it's been a very hard, steep, rocky, bumpy path for the Haitians.  But it's a path where they can and will continue to make progress.”  Tony Banbury, President & CEO, The International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

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From the shocking assassination of their president, to a deadly earthquake, and the crush of Covid-19, Haiti has dominated the headlines the past several months.  But on this episode of Democracy! The Podcast, find out why the media doesn’t always get the story right, and why the news isn’t all bad for the Caribbean’s 2nd largest island.  

Hear from a few of the consortium’s partners working on the frontlines of Haiti’s fight for democracy everyday.  Plus, two Haitian electoral experts sit down to talk with Adrienne about the future and where their hope lies in seeing their nation transformed.  

Plus, Tony Banbury, the President and CEO of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, shares a life-altering experience that put him at the center of tragedy, and transformed his thoughts on Haiti’s future.   

Democracy! The Podcast is brought to you by the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) with support from the United States Agency for International Development through the Global Elections and Political Transitions Award.  

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Follow CEPPS on Twitter. 

Democracy! The Podcast is hosted by CEPPS and Adrienne Ross. 

This podcast has been produced by the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening through the Global Elections and Political Transitions award and is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development.

Opinions expressed here are those of the host and the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the US Government.  This show is produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media.



This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

Transcripts

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Hi, and welcome to Democracy!

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The Podcast that shines light on some of the darkest challenges facing the

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fight for democracy around the globe.

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"Democracy will and must prevail."

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[President Biden]

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This podcast is brought to you by the Consortium for Elections and

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Political Process Strengthening direct from Washington, DC, with support

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from our friends at the United States Agency for International Development

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through the Global Elections and Political Transitions Award.

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I'm your host, Adrienne Ross.

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The Republic of Haiti often finds itself vulnerable to storms, both

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natural and manmade, but lately the Caribbean's second largest island has

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suffered a string of catastrophes.

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Like the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean, COVID has been crushing.

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Then, the tremendously shocking assassination of President

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Jovenel Moïse happened in July.

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In August, just a few weeks later, a major earthquake claimed more than 2000 lives.

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Prime Minister Ariel Henry said the quake put his nation on its knees.

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And yet those who know Haiti the best say that these Islanders won't stay

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down for long because they tell me their resilience is extraordinary.

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And in the face of these challenges, Haitians will rebuild their home

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and reconstruct their democracy.

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Today, we'll talk to two Haitians who tell us why they look first

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to the youth of their country for inspiration, and the President and CEO

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of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems joins us to explain

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why we should never give up on Haiti.

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But first, we welcome a few of the Consortium's partners who know Haiti best.

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Matt Dippell is the National Democratic Institute's Deputy [Regional] Director

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for Haiti, and Roger Mitchell serves as the Program Manager for the

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International Republican Institute Latin America and Caribbean division.

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Together with funding from USAID, they've been focused on helping Haiti

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strengthen its political system.

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One of the first things we talk about today is what the

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media gets wrong about Haiti.

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One of the things that we tend to get a lot of coverage on is just the negative

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headlines, the fact that there's a lot of challenges in the country.

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There's a lot of endemic or recurring, cyclical problems, such

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as corruption, such as poverty.

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And what is missing a lot of times is the positive stories that come out of Haiti.

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There's a lot of resilience in the Haitian people.

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I think Roger's right.

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Haiti has faced a series of seemingly relentless difficult challenges,

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both from nature, be it hurricanes or earthquakes, and person-made challenges,

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be it political conflict and crises.

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And these tend to be the moments when Haiti gets the greatest media coverage.

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Unlike other countries in that region that are, or even globally, that are facing

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some of those same challenges, when there are positive developments, they sometimes

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get overshadowed by these larger events.

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I would say that there's tremendous culture in Haiti that is often overlooked.

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There's also a very large Haitian diaspora in the U.S.

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that has influenced our own cultures.

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And I think that's something that can be sometimes overshadowed just by the media.

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Matt, one of the areas that CEPPS NDI has really been focused on is

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helping to support political parties.

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How do you help the Haitians assess political contests and

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activities ahead of the elections?

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The country's seen protests and disaffection with political leaders in the

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country and widespread calls for change.

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I think what's notable at the heart of all these protests is general frustration

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with the sense that people's everyday concerns are not being heard or addressed.

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These are concerns like economic inequality, government

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corruption, crime, and violence.

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Certain parts of Haitian society are also marginalized in political life.

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And that's particularly women and young people, who make up

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the majority of the population.

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But the good news is in response to these challenges, we're seeing some

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new levels of political activism.

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Young people, middle-class, members of the diaspora, have returned home

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and are trying to make a difference in ways we haven't seen before.

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When you talk about enthusiasm, how does that show itself in Haiti?

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Do you just see people more excited?

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Do you see higher numbers of turnout of individuals interested in helping?

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What have you witnessed?

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You're seeing more young people take part in political life.

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They're taking part in social protest movements or even

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starting new political parties.

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So, this includes elements of the Haitian middle-class and university students, some

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of whom are returning from studies abroad to make a difference back home in Haiti.

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Roger, your team at the International Republican Institute has created

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a university, talking about all these students who come

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back home from studying abroad.

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And you've done it directly to help broaden the voices across the country.

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Can you tell us a little bit more about this program and how it got started?

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Of course, and maybe just to echo some of what Matt has already said, this program

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that we've done under the CEPPS Consortium in Northern Haiti is a program that

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targets local grassroot organizations.

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These are groups that are really just starting, that are mainly composed

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of volunteers, and that are really at the local level in communities.

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In partnership with a local Haitian university, we developed a curriculum,

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a course that could benefit them, that could help them increase their capacity

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in areas such as advocacy, communications, financial management, monitoring and

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evaluation, and looking for additional resources to be more sustainable.

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One of the successes I would say of this program is the fact that these

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independent groups, these ten, fifteen different organizations didn't know each

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other at the beginning of the course.

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And through the course, they were able to establish these new relationships

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and form a sort of network, an informal network, I would say.

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And we're hopeful that, in the future, we can continue to leverage those groups

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and that network in order for greater collaboration to take place between

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organizations and greater civic engagement to take place at the local level.

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You both have remarked repeatedly to me in private and again in

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this conversation about the resiliency of the Haitian people.

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Can you each just take a minute to talk about what you found to be so

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hopeful in this time of despair?

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We're seeing new elements of Haitian society get involved in politics.

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These are new voices, and they hold the promise to begin potential, perhaps

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incremental, renewal of Haitian politics and political leadership if they're able

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to successfully take part in elections.

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We are also seeing Haitian good government watchdog groups, particularly

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in the area of election observation.

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And these groups are in touch with colleagues abroad, and they're adapting

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proven tools that Haiti can use to improve the transparency of elections.

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So I think that the work of these national civic groups can begin help shed light

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on and reform some of the long running shortcomings we've seen in Haitian

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elections as has been done successfully by colleagues in other countries.

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So the hope is the work of these good government watchdogs will give

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citizens more confidence in the integrity of elections and encourage

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participation, which in the end is going to be the key to any change in the

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needed public accountability in Haiti.

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What I find really hopeful and what really gives me motivation in our

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work in Haiti is the resilience of our staff and our partners.

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Something that I find very

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hopeful is the work

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that we do bringing activists, local government officials, and other members

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of the community to work together.

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I think that's something that we see in a lot of these moments of disaster,

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or be it political unrest, is these community members come together and

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try to solve these problems together.

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That's something that gives me hope.

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That's excellent.

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Two individuals who are really focused on solving some of Haiti's electoral problems

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join us direct from Port-au-Prince now.

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Fitzgerald Jean and Jude Jeudy work together with the Consortium.

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Jude is NDI Haiti's Program Director, and has worked with citizens

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grassroots organizations and political parties for almost twenty years.

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He's also founded his own community organization, worked

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as a radio director, and is a history and social studies teacher.

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Fitzgerald Jean is a consultant with the International

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Foundation for Electoral Systems.

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He helps to support Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council and

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National Civil Society partners.

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Fitzgerald has studied electronic engineering and has a bachelor's degree

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in computer science, but he really is an elections expert who has worked in many

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places, including the Congo and Kosovo.

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They were both home when the recent earthquake struck in August.

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As you know, the earthquake struck mainly in the Nippes and Grand'Anse departments.

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Contrary to the January 2010 earthquake where many people died thinking they would

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be safe in their homes, or rushing back to the shelter at home, the sensitization

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on how to behave during an earthquake clearly paid off, as this time around

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everyone walked outside into the streets.

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That knowledge has probably saved many, many lives.

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Since we are living in Port-au-Prince, our region has not been really affected.

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But our sisters and brothers in the south of the country have been really affected.

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So most people of the country mobilized to help friends or sisters or brothers,

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and it was an occasion for Haitian people to show solidarity, one to another.

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If we switch gears a little bit to talking about elections that are

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slated for November, Fitzgerald, what are the priorities for holding

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elections this year in Haiti?

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As you know, Haiti is caught in a political crisis.

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Our first priority will be tohave a political accord to solve the crisis.

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In all those accords, there are calls for having a new, provisional accord council

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to be nominated because the last one was not really perceived as legitimate.

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You're both deeply experienced working many aspects of elections in Haiti.

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Jude, you've been a grassroots electoral trainer for many years.

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What do you think the biggest challenges are facing Haiti's electoral system now?

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We think that lack of confidence from the population is the main challenge

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faced by the electoral system.

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But you have also to consider the violence, the insecurity that we

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observe in the Port-au-Prince area and other areas of the country.

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I understand you both are focusing on, particularly,

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working with women and youth.

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Can you tell us what that's been like?

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Fitzgerald, why don't you answer first.

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Indeed, CEPPS IFES has been working with different partner organizations, including

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women with disabilities and also youth.

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And those activities were quite hampered lately because, first because

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of the COVID-19 crisis, and then because of the political crisis.

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Jude, have you had the same experience?

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In our work with the partner political parties, we have focused

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on recruiting women and young people.

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We have also supported partner political parties to strengthen

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their women in the wings.

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So we are certain that these reforms will result in a greater

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number of women and young people as candidates in the next elections.

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Jude, gang violence and COVID have been significant challenges in Haiti.

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Can you talk a little bit more about what challenges you've had to face?

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COVID has been the biggest challenge, and it has been practically

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impossible to implement some program activities with these partners.

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It was for a long period of time.

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The quality of internet connections in the country didn't help to work remotely.

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From the gang violence, it has impacted and continues to impact the whole world.

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It is very difficult to travel in some regions of the country

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to realize some activities.

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We are living with this problem, which we are trying to do what we can when we can.

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I understand that Haitian politics in particular tend

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to be very personality driven.

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What does this do to the political process in Haiti?

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We are a long way in establishing a real democracy because often with

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political parties, they are built around the personality of a single person.

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It's really personality driven, and we witness that once that

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person disappears, the participants tends to lose their clout.

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If you had a crystal ball, what would you predict for Haiti's futures?

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Jude, what do you think?

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Well, despite all the problems that the country faces, we believe that the

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future will be better than the present.

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We are hopeful.

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When I observe the determination, the commitment of young people

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to participate in building a better Haiti, I remain hopeful.

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Fitzgerald, do you agree with that?

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Well, personally, I'm quite pessimistic because so far every

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time when we have reached some depth, we found a way to dig deeper.

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So we hope that politicians will come to their senses and put their

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country first, but so far, this is not what we witness on the ground.

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It's a reason why we need more new, young, women, competent people in politics.

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And it's a reason why we work to bring these kinds of people into politics

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because we know if we want to change the situation of the country, there's a

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necessity to have other people involved in politics, people with new ideas.

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Yes, I agree with Jude in principle, but so far those people,

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I don't see them forthcoming.

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I don't see anyone emerging meeting those criteria.

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And what we have seen during the last year - not even the last year,

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during the last decades is an exit.

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It's an exit of the most capable, prominent people abroad because the

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youth, most young people, as soon as they get a chance to go study abroad,

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go live or work abroad, they take the chance, and they rarely come back.

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And those are the people who would really make a difference.

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You have a lot of young people who were in France and United States and

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Canada who have their scholarship in this country, who came back into Haiti.

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And these people want to participate in the building of a new country.

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And it's the reason why you have this movement in 2018,

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the Petrochallengers Movement.

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It was a lot of young people who understood that Haiti is their

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country and they had to fight to have another country because only Haitians

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can help build another country.

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So I met these people in every region in the country, I'm

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traveling a lot in the country.

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And when you meet young people from the universities, young people from community

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organizations, you can feel the vibe, you can feel their will to take part

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in these movements to have a new Haiti.

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I understand that with the situation

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we have now,

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it's normal that people are pessimistic, but there is no

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other way we have to change this country and Haitians have to do so.

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Well, gentlemen, we will leave it there.

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Thank you so much for joining us today.

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Here now to help us put Haiti into context is Anthony Banbury, the

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President and CEO of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

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Tony came to lead the foundation in 2018 after an extensive career with the United

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Nations and the United States government.

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He lived in eight countries over a twelve-year period.

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In fact, in the 1990s, Tony served as a Human Rights Officer

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for the joint Organization of American States/UN International

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Civilian Support Mission in Haiti.

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In 2010, when the UN leadership was tragically killed in the

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earthquake, Tony was tapped to serve as the emergency Acting Deputy Head

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for the UN peacekeeping mission.

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There is no one better to help us thread the conversation

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on democracy in Haiti today.

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Tony, when I look back at some of the congressional testimony you've

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given on Haiti, you historically describe your service there

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as one of the most difficult, proudest moments of your career.

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Can you share a little bit more about your firsthand experiences working in Haiti?

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I've lived and worked in Haiti on two different occasions.

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The first was in 1993.

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I was a very junior UN Human Rights Officer working with the joint OAS

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human rights mission in Haiti called MICIVIH, which went in after General

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Raoul Cédras kicked out the elected president, President Aristide.

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It was a really grim situation there.

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Cédras was a thug, an autocrat, and a dictator.

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And I'll never forget it, I was on the balcony of the hotel room that served as

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the office of my boss, a French woman.

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I was looking out onto the bay, and she had her back to the bay.

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And President Clinton at the time had sent in a Navy ship,

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basically threatening Cédras to get his act together, or the U.S.

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was going to take action.

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It was the USS Harlan County, and the ship was there for three days.

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As I was talking with my boss and she was telling me where I was going to deploy,

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the ship steamed up and turned around and started heading out of the bay.

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So I said to my boss, I was only in the country a relatively short period of time

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then, "Excuse me, is that significant?"

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She turned around and saw the ship steaming out and said, "I've got to go."

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And things deteriorated very quickly after that.

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Overnight, the Canadians pulled out.

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Ottawa sent a C-130.

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All the Canadians left, and all of a sudden I was the only person in the hotel.

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They turned off the generator.

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It was very creepy.

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And by then, Raoul Cédras's thugs - there was this band of thugs called The Frape,

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which is "to hit" in French or Creole - they were banging on our cars with sticks

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as we tried to drive through the streets.

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We evacuated the next day to the Dominican Republic, to Santiago.

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Much more dramatic even, I was working at UN Headquarters in 2010 when the

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earthquake hit January 10th, 2010, and a couple of days later, I was on the ground

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leading the UN's operational response.

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It's hard for people to understand, but more than 230,000 Haitians

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were killed in that earthquake.

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230,000.

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That's a number that's impossible to comprehend.

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It hit at the center of the capital, not in the remote countryside.

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It also hit around 4:50 PM.

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A lot of government workers had already left the office buildings,

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but a lot of hardworking, dedicated government officials were still in

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their ministries and they were killed.

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So the government was devastated.

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The infrastructure was devastated.

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The port and airport were dysfunctional.

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Roads were just impassable because of debris.

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It was the largest loss of UN life in the history of the organization.

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Never before had so many UN people, 102, been killed.

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Most of them in that same Hotel Christopher that I had been staying

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in all alone back in 1993, which would become the UN Headquarters.

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Among those killed were the Head of the UN mission and the

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Deputy Head of the UN mission.

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So I arrived with a team right after that, and it was just absolute insanity, chaos.

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All the UN staff were traumatized.

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The government wasn't functioning, desperate humanitarian needs.

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And we retooled the whole UN mission to focus on three objectives - saving

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Haitian lives and providing humanitarian assistance, addressing the desperate

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needs of the UN staff, the ones who were killed, their family members, the

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ones who were traumatized, the ones who were still caught under the rubble.

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A friend of mine was pulled out of the rebel five days after

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the earthquake when I was there.

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And then the third mission was rebuilding the capacity of the UN so that we

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could meet those first two needs.

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When you come into a disaster like that, first of all, what goes through your mind?

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And secondly, how do you start to organize your democracy work

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after something so dramatic?

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The first thing when I go into a disaster like that is to get as

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good an understanding as possible of the needs, the humanitarian

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needs, meeting the needs of people.

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It depends in different contexts.

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I worked in the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Haiti earthquake, Cyclone Nargis,

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and each one's a little bit different.

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But essentially, food and water come first, shelter next, and

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then emergency healthcare.

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While you're trying to build information, you can't wait for perfect information.

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You're just trying to get it as quickly as possible while at the same time,

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surging supplies and capability - teams, planes, aircraft handling stuff,

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logistics stuff, you're surging them.

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You're just throwing stuff at the problem as fast as you can.

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But in terms of democracy, it's such a different set of problems, and

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hence, a different approach needed.

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Democracy, as you well know, is a very long process, takes a long time to build.

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A lot of elements are necessary, including a lot of intangibles going

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to the very heart of the social contract in a given society between

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the people and their government.

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So it requires a very different approach, very different mindset, very

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different set of tools and capabilities.

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One of the things I like that I've heard you say is that the

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international community should not be dissuaded by the level of difficulty.

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When we look at the political infrastructure in Haiti, can

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you explain more about that and why we shouldn't be dissuaded?

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I don't think we can ever be dissuaded from this kind of work, whether it's

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a meeting humanitarian needs of those desperately in need, or it's the

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long, hard work of building democracy.

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The people in a society, they want it, they have the right

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to democratic governance.

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It's the autocrats and dictators who want us to be dissuaded, and

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the Haitian people are proud and strong and they've never given up.

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And I certainly don't think we, as their partners, should ever give up.

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When we look at Haiti, again, in your opinion, what should we look to as

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an indicator of democratic success?

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How do we evaluate that?

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So the starting point is a new and good constitution.

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The current Prime Minister, Henry, recently proposed one with a

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different model, get rid of the prime minister, have a strong president,

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vice-president, but also some pretty strong provisions dealing with

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accountability for government officials.

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I don't want to pass judgment.

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It's not for me to judge the choices that Haitians will make on their constitution,

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but clearly, a new good constitution that addresses issues related to power and

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roles and responsibilities and authorities of different state bodies is essential.

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And related to that, and it should be in the constitution, getting at the

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issue of corruption in Haiti, which is at the heart of its dysfunction, where

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you have very corrupt elites who seek to undermine the good functioning of

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a democratic government so they can continue to enjoy the benefits that

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they get at the expense of the people.

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The previous president, Jovenel Moïse, who, of course, was assassinated, he

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had intended to bring a constitution to referendum, but the existing 1987

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constitution says it cannot be changed via any kind of public vote or referendum.

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So the system is currently just dysfunctional.

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CEPPS IFES, in particular, has had a long history of empowering traditionally

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underrepresented groups in Haiti's electoral and political participation.

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Does this remain a priority now that there are so many other things in

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Haiti that also need strengthening?

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Absolutely.

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And it should be a priority in any society, the role of

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women, the role of youth.

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The future of any country in the world is its youth.

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And of course, groups who are marginalized are not traditionally able

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to access full political, economic, and social power and resources, such

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as the LGBTQI community in Haiti.

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And we can't pick and choose.

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All of this work has to be done, unfortunately, simultaneously given how

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great the needs are right now in Haiti.

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You've referenced the resilience and the incredible qualities we see in Haitians.

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What is it that people who have never been to Haiti or don't know a lot about this

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issue, what should they know about Haiti?

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Haitians are a wonderful, warm, fun, interesting people with a rich culture.

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It's a beautiful country.

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Haitian people care a lot about education and the education of their children.

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After the earthquake, when Port-au-Prince was absolutely devastated, hardly a road

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was passable, hardly a house was left fully standing and unimpacted, within

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a very short period of time on Sundays, you would see people walking the streets,

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going to some makeshift church, dressed in immaculately clean Sunday Best clothes.

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I couldn't understand how that happened, how they could somehow manage

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to have such clean and nice clothes after such a devastating earthquake.

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And their devotion to their religion, their children's education, I mean, things

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that people around the world care about.

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Haiti also has some fantastic food and culture.

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The art in Haiti is great.

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The beaches are amazing.

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The water is amazing.

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Some of the historical sites, it's really a fantastic country to visit.

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That's quite a bookend to describing the earthquake.

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Really, it's unfortunate that there's been such tragedy on the island.

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Haiti's partners have a special responsibility to do more, to provide the

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support, whether it's of a humanitarian nature or support the political

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processes, rule of law, anti-corruption.

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We have a big responsibility, I think, to provide the assistance

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that's really desperately needed.

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In your congressional testimony last year, you said the story of Haiti is

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the story of democratic governance.

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It is a forever a work in progress.

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Does that remain true?

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And what do you expect to see from Haiti in the future as they

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work to rebuild their country?

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In any country, the work of democratic development is a process.

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Look at the United States and the challenges to democracy

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in the United States.

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So he is on a path of democratic development as any country is.

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And it's been a very hard, steep, rocky, bumpy path for the Haitians.

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But it's a path where they can and will continue to make progress.

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Haitian people, civil society leaders, political party leaders are deeply

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committed to improving the lives of their people through democratic development

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and certainly CEPPS will be there with them, walking down that path.

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Well, President of IFES, Tony Banbury, we are smarter for having

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talked to you about Haiti today.

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Thank you so much for joining us.

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I have an important footnote to leave you with on this discussion.

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Our friends at USAID have been focused on helping Haiti in the aftermath

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of the most recent earthquake.

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Special Disaster Assistance Response Team, or DART, has continued to lead the joint

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task force Haiti and providing relief.

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To date, they have completed more than 660 missions, assisted nearly 500 people,

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and transported nearly 600,000 pounds of emergency relief commodities to

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affected areas by working with the U.S.

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Department of Defense and the U.S.

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Coastguard.

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In total this year, USAID has provided more than $180 million

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in humanitarian aid for Haiti.

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This podcast has been produced by the Consortium for Elections and Political

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Process Strengthening through the Global Elections and Political Transitions

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Award, and is made possible by the generous support of the American people

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through the United States American people through the United States

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Agency for International Development.

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Opinions expressed here are those of the hosts and the guests,

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and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the U.S.

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Government, and is produced by Evo Terra and Simpler Media.

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For more information on Democracy!

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