Radio Mundo Real

French, Canadian and US transnational companies, among others, have triggered a “shameless push” for the control of economic resources allocated to the reconstruction of Haiti, according to economist Camille Chalmers, from the Haitian Platform to Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA).

At the Americas Social Forum held in Paraguay, Chalmers said to Real World Radio that foreign corporations “are taking advantage” of the institutional weakness of the Caribbean island, that suffered an earthquake on January 12th with devastating consequences.

The goal of the companies, according to the activist, is to control “the strategic spaces”, and they have the complicity of the Haitian government that is “irresponsibly accepting everything that is being donated, without any kind of control”.

One of the most paradigmatic cases is the controversial donation by Monsanto. The US company donated 475 tons of GM seeds, something that resulted in strong protests by the peasant movement.

Chalmers said that the supposed “generous gesture” of Monsanto is nothing else than a mechanism to increase the levels of dependence of the Haitian agriculture. “Agribusiness is a threat to the interests of human kind”, he concluded.

Meanwhile, the Haitian government is planning to strengthen the process of privatizations started before the earthquake, and there are negotiations to give more space to private businesses.

“And all of this is happening while more than 1.6 million people continue on the streets”, said the PAPDA representative.

Photo: movimientos.org