Letter to Obama: Haiti should become temporary "protectorate" of U.S.

March 11, 2010 by Guerton Auguste

The following excerpts are from an open letter to President Barack Obama shared with the Reporter by Boston resident Guerton Auguste.
Dear Mr. President,
As the crisis in Haiti, brought on by the earthquake of January 12, 2010, continues to evolve, we in the Haitian community are just beginning to comprehend the magnitude of the calamity that has stricken our fellow human beings—our children, our brothers and sisters, uncle and aunts, nephews and neighbors. Mr. President, I am proud and grateful to say that the American people and their president did not stay neutral but in fact stood tall to show the world what it means to have Americans as friends and neighbors. You particularly, went beyond the call of duty and responsibility.
It is said that it is in adversity that one recognizes their true friends. By this standard, Mr. President, our beloved Haiti has indeed many friends.
Haiti, as you know, is a country that knew immense suffering and deprivation even before the earthquake. Even if all the assistance the country is now receiving had come before the traumatic earthquake, it would still be insufficient to pull us out of the hole we had dug for ourselves with the assistance of other foreign powers. And these powers, it pains me to say include our great country—a country that I now gratefully call home and whose citizen I am proud to be.
Mr. President, we cannot relive the past. But we can change and plan for a better future, using history as a reminder of paths to avoid. The future of Haiti cannot be a repetition of the failed past. Not now. Not again. Not at this time when Providence has blessed us with a U.S. president who cannot only sympathize, but who can act boldly to forge a brighter future for the inhabitants of Haiti.
So how will this happen? Mr. President, I can assure you that this brighter future will not happen by being timid or by nibbling around the edges. It will not happen by attempting half measures or handing limited or meager resources to corrupt leaders that had proven their incompetence even in normal times.
It should be apparent to all clear and open-minded Haitians and Haitian-Americans that Haiti will not be able to manage its affairs for the near and mid-term future. Therefore, Haiti must voluntarily or otherwise become a protectorate of America or a co-protectorate of America with the active assistance of France and Canada in the shortest delay possible.
I know some fellow Haitians and Haitian-Americans would brand this writer a traitor for uttering such idea. But I am prepared to defend this necessary course of action in the court of public opinion and work— with the help of many others coming out of the woodwork— to build the grass root support necessary to make this designation a reality, with your help.
You see, Mr. President, my defense for those taking the protectorate path is simple: We are not traitors; we are realists. The reality is Haiti will fall further into the abyss without the direct, day-to-day management of her protectors and the financial, material, and intellectual resources they can bring to bear on these unimaginable challenges the country is now facing.
Haiti is a decapitated country. The calamity which brought us to this conclusion occurred in the very center of the place where almost all of our economic and intellectual capitals were stored. We have lost some of our finest minds. A sizable portion of our current intellectual elite is gone. Most of the professors who were preparing our social, economic and intellectual leaders of the future are also gone. It is an illusion to think we can achieve this by ourselves.
Help must come from outside. And we need your help and the help of the American people like we never have before. This is not the time or the place to discuss how our request and appeal can be granted. But we need you to place our plea before the American people through their representatives in Congress. We are not asking for the creation of a welfare state or to tag onto the Social Security system. We are not asking for any of that. The Haitian people I know would never go along with that.
We understand that your plate is full right now; that this country has its own financial issues it is grappling with on top of two wars our nation can barely afford; millions of people are unemployed here at home.
But I know one thing for certain: The America I chose for home and who gave birth to my children —even in the midst of her own difficulties— would want to do something for Haiti. The generosity of the American people is beyond question.
The question that remains therefore is: would we do it right? Would America just show up to alleviate suffering as righteous as that is even if that were all we did or, would we buck history and put Haiti on the track for success for ever? For if we don’t do this right, it will eventually cost us more. It would be less costly to our image and to our treasury if we did it right —from the start.
This can be done, Mr. President. But we must be clear up front with the American people, the Haitian people and the international community whose help we will need.
We in the Haitian community are ready to do whatever it takes to give our native land a better deal. We’d even consider a special tax on Haitians and Haitian-Americans or a check-off box on our return tax forms for us or anybody else who would want to contribute to the restoration of Haiti to do so voluntarily. In few words Mr. President, we need to do something. But it must be bold, effective and permanent so that even the harshest critics will remain speechless as the results of this intervention will speak for themselves and as the new Haiti which arose from the rubbles and its modern social, economic and political infrastructures bring glory and honor to this country and to all others that saw another country and its people in distress and acted boldly to change its course for the better, forever.
We are counting on you, Mr. President to give Haiti a better chance. We may never again have such a historic opportunity, though the challenges are many.
May God continue to bless you, your family and the American people and all the people and countries of the world who strive to live according to the biblical injunctions: to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked and to shelter the homeless!
Guerton ”Babi” Auguste is a Haitian-American citizen and is an engineer living in the Boston area.