Haiti: The Endless Tragedy

Two months after the earthquake which devastated Haiti, the tragedy knows no end. The Caribbean nation continues to suffer the daily increase in the number of its victims, as well as the little aid received to face this unprecedented catastrophe. The situation is compounded by the centuries-old misery in which most of its inhabitants are plunged. 

According to recent reports, the death toll is horrific and surpasses 230,000. The destruction reaches 80 percent in Port-au-Prince, the capital, but the quake almost completely destroyed the poorest neighborhoods because of the instability of the buildings. To this, we must add the number of injured, many of them maimed, who will always suffer from their injuries. 

The hopeless situation in Haiti has sparked a number of protests, such as the demonstration which took place this weekend in the neighborhood of Petionville. Thousands of people demanded a better flow in food distribution, and denounced the stockpiling of the aid coming from abroad. 

Although the distribution of provisions has improved, the amount is still insufficient. The economy of this Caribbean country is crippled and the Haitian people lack the means to meet their needs. 

The presence of heavily armed soldiers on the streets has also raised anger. There are 16,000 U.S. troops in Haiti, in addition to 10,000 UN peacekeepers. 

Washington announced over the weekend that it won't withdraw its Marines from the Caribbean country, and they will stay there "as long as it takes." This confirms that more than assistance and a rescue mission, the United States is involved in the long-term military occupation in the Caribbean nation. 

Amid the chaos, there are small islands where order, work and organization prevail. We're talking about the five hospitals run by the Cuban medical brigade. Haitian medical professionals and U.S. students who graduated in Cuba have joined in this effort, as well as the work by Venezuela and other member nations of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, ALBA. 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez announced Sunday that there's a willingness to expand the number of these facilities and, in this way, to provide a greater number of people with the proper conditions of hygiene, food, health and even education. There are now three camps -- two in the Leogane community and another in Jacmel. About 4,000 people affected by the earthquake receive medical care in these camps. 

Member countries of the Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, discussed other concrete measures to help the Haitian people, particularly those which could be run in the medium and long term - not only to heal the wounds opened by the disaster, but to promote a model of development in order to erase the traces of misery and neglect. 

Nevertheless, it is urgent that other regions of the world join the nations of ALBA and UNASUR, because time is running out, and in only three months, the season of cyclones and storms in the Caribbean will begin. 

Today, there are hundreds of thousands of people, including children, the elderly and women, living in the open. It is an endless tragedy which could still be much worse in the absence of a humane, decisive and radical political will to change the history of the poorest country of the Americas.

Taken from Radio Havana Cuba