The Haitian Connection

With the tightening of the U.S.-Mexico border, Haiti has become a transshipment point for cocaine. The corrupting influence may threaten hopes for democracy.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - It's an allegorical tale, but a true one, according to a well-positioned source. In 2003 a plane crashed in the Haitian town of Tigoave. It was laden with cocaine — not exactly manna from heaven, but to the people there, it certainly seemed like it.

"Everybody got a piece," says the source, an official currently working with a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Haiti. He asked to remain anonymous because of his position.

Within weeks, he says, most of the town was on a buying binge. Fat with cash, people bought cars, boats, even started building new houses.

But what they couldn't buy, says the source, was life's basic necessities: food, water, clothing.

The people in the town who ran those businesses — the restaurants, utilities, shops — weren't going to work anymore; they didn't need to.

Haiti's poverty forces some
to the drug trade.

The plane brought them a source of income that went beyond their wildest dreams. They were set for life, but it was a Faustian bargain.

A deal similar, says the source, to the one Haitian authorities — government leaders, police, justice officials — have made with South American drug traffickers now using Haiti as a major transit point for cocaine shipments into the U.S. It has escalated with the tightening of border security between the U.S. and Mexico.

An estimated eight percent of all illegal drugs coming into the U.S. are now transported through Haiti.

The 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released by the U.S. Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, backs up this assessment. It states:

"Haiti has approximately 1,125 miles of unprotected shoreline, numerous uncontrolled seaports and clandestine airstrips, a thriving contraband trade, weak democratic institutions, a renascent police force that has a history of cooperating with drug traffickers, a dysfunctional judiciary system and official corruption. These factors contribute to the frequent use of Haiti by drug traffickers as a strategic transshipment area."

The director general of the Haitian National Police says as many as 25 percent of his officers are involved in serious illegal activities like drug trafficking, and a 2005 report by Transparency International called Haiti one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

When "fast boats" filled with cocaine from Colombia hit the Cape Haitien region of Haiti, according to the NGO source, the Haitian National Police provide protection for them, or even go as far as breaking down the shipments and transporting them in their vehicles to Port-au-Prince and into slums like Cite Soleil. From there, the drugs are repackaged and transported to the U.S. aboard small planes, boats, and through passengers' checked luggage.

Drugs have been intertwined with the Haitian economy since the time of the dictatorship of  Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier in the 1980s. But more recently, and significantly, according to the U.S. State Department, the former government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide was involved. He was overthrown in 2004.

In fact, some reports say, the reason the U.S. government was so eager to see the end of the Aristide administration was because it was so steeped in the corruption over drugs.

Patrick Elie

But Haitian political activist Patrick Elie, who was also once a minister in the Aristide government, says Aristide had so many other problems to deal with as president that he didn't have time to make sure all in his cabinet were squeaky clean on the drug issue.

"It's like your house is on fire," Elie says, "and people are demanding that you deal with matters that take you away from putting out the fire. You have to put out the fire first."

But few who seek or have power in Haiti are clean of drug allegations. Even some rebel leaders who overthrew Aristide have links to the drug trade. Some even argue it was drug money that financed their operations.

"You feel here that cocaine is a part of the future. And [with] all the destruction corruption brings, it takes democracy with it," the insider says.

But in a country where three-quarters of the population live in poverty, the easy money of the drug trade is an irresistible draw.

"Richness and poorness here exist so close together," he says. "The country operates at two levels: people with air conditioning and people who can't even afford water."

He says there are many parties that want to see Haiti remain in chaos, with a dysfunctional justice system and an interim government so concerned with internal civil unrest that it can't really plan beyond the crisis of the moment.

"Colombian drug traffickers want a weak country," he says. "It's to their benefit."

The U.S. government says that curbing the illegal flow of drugs through Haiti is a cornerstone of its counternarcotics policy. But that may be easier said than done.

The U.S. allocated over $8 million to that effort in 2005, providing vehicles and training for recruits of the Haitian National Police counternarcotics division, and for retraining current officers.

And while Haiti has not met counternarcotics criteria set by the U.S. for the last three years, the State Department says it has waived sanctions "on the grounds of vital national security interests."

But to the NGO insider, the drug problem will likely remain one of the most difficult challenges to the establishment of a stable and peaceful Haiti.

"To really understand Haiti you must see what is not readily apparent," he says. "Haiti is crying but people don't hear. I'm not sure the Haitian people even understand why this is so."

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