On March 26, 2024, civil society activists demonstrated their public dissatisfaction with former US President Bill Clinton’s visit to Guyana outside the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
This is Clinton’s first official visit to the Caribbean country. Nonetheless, a significant portion of civil society, such as members of Red Thread and the Haiti Support Group (Guyana), are very opposed to the visit.
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Protesters assembled outside the ACCC to voice their concerns over both Clinton’s visit and the presence of Ernesto Torres-Pereyra, the Dominican Republic’s ambassador.
The Haiti Support Group (Guyana) released a statement in which the activists stated, “We picket to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Haiti and their right to self-determination, free movement, and national sovereignty.”
It further noted, “We picket to denounce the racist and discriminatory policies of the Dominican Republic against Haitians, as well as the Government of Guyana’s violation of the Treaty of Chaguaramas with regard to Haitians’ right of free movement throughout the Caribbean….Today [yesterday]’s picket is also against former US President Bill Clinton for his role in contributing to the corruption and destabilization of Haiti.”
The organization pointed out that while Mr. Clinton was US President, he compelled Haiti to remove tariffs on American rice imports, which helped farmers in his home state of Arkansas find a profitable market for their produce but devastated the local Haitian rice farming industry.
According to the support organization, recent research by the University of Michigan revealed that arsenic and cadmium, heavy metals that might raise the risk of cancer and heart disease, are present in American rice, which Haiti is currently one of the major importers of.
Charlene Wilkinson of Haiti Support Group told reporters “… It shows a clear prioritizing of business and friends and family politics over respecting a nation’s sovereignty and the lives of its citizens; this is not something we want or need more of here in Guyana.”
Danuta Radzik, a Guyanese activist who was also present on the picket line, asserted that the Clintons had an extremely negative history with Haiti.
“This has to do with the level of corruption… The Clinton Foundation has also been accused of widespread corruption and disempowerment of the Haitian people for their role in projects such as the Caracol Industrial Park which displaced over three hundred Haitian families and prioritized profit and cheap labor for multinational companies instead of providing proper employment and a living wage for Haitian workers,” Radzik stated.
As chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), which was established following the devastating 2010 earthquake to aid and assist the Haitian people, the group clarified in the statement that Clinton continued to exhibit his disrespect and disregard for Haitian sovereignty and lives, as well as his preference for profit over people, even after leaving the White House.
The organization stated, “Less than 1% of the billions of dollars collected by the IHRC went to Haitian businesses and Haitian non-governmental organizations; most of the money went to international aid agencies, international NGOs, and for-profit businesses. Less than 10% of the funds went to the Haitian government.”
They added, “We will continue to express solidarity with the people of Haiti as their struggle for self-determination and recognition of their rights is one that resonates with us as Indigenous and descendants of formerly enslaved and indentured persons. We stand against business and economic policies which prioritize profit over people, rights, and justice, especially when championed by persons and institutions that espouse racist ideology and disregard for human rights.”
The support group also expressed its goal for a unified Caribbean where “our Haitian cousins can enjoy free movement throughout the region, without fear of discrimination, persecution, or forced deportation, where their rights are equally upheld, their lives and livelihoods safeguarded, and their national sovereignty respected by foreign forces.”
Furthermore, the local human rights organization brought attention to the fact that the Dominican Republic (DR), a neighbor of Haiti and organizer of the United Caribbean Forum, has been discriminating against Haitians on a systematic basis for decades.
“The DR has enacted and maintained a policy of denying the right to nationality to persons of Haitian descent, in an attempt to intimidate and expel Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent,” the body declared, denouncing the Dominican Republic’s conduct.
