The last time the government of Haiti tried to implement a development project on Ile-a-Vache, Haiti almost lost the island. In the 1860s, President Geffrard envisioned using the well forested island to obtain capital needed to develop the rest of the country. He contracted an American businessman named Klock to oversee a project that would involve the exportation of wood from the island to overseas markets. Unbeknownst to Geffrard, Klock had also approached the president of the United States at the time, Abraham Lincoln, and proposed to him that he be made governor of Ile-a-Vache and the island be used as a stepping stone for US colonization of Haiti. In 1862, in the midst of the US Civil War, 400 African-American men were transported to the island to work under Klocks command. Subjected to forced labor on the island, it did not take long for these men to resist Klocks barbaric rule. The development project failed, and President Lincoln chose not to send reinforcement to crack down on the revolt against Klock. If this history of development on the island teaches us anything, it is that development projects involving Haitis off-shore islands must be carefully scrutinized. Ile- a-Vache is about the size of many well known independent islands in the Caribbean. With its own international airport, and modern infrastructure for wealthy villa and condo owners, it can be a free standing community with its own Politour police fortifying it against the residents of the mainland. With a high foreign population backed by foreign investors, the new population of the free standing Ile-a-Vache may not view itself as culturally attached to the mainland and may even view the residents of the mainland as a tax burden from whom they get nothing except maid service that is shuttled in and out. Ile-a-Vache can be a developed community apart from the mainland like Johannesburg and Soweto. Haiti government has begun to implement this Dominican style tourism plan for Haiti and in particular for Ile-a-Vache... Under the leadership of its Minister of Tourism, the government has begun to implement this Dominican style tourism plan for Haiti and in particular for Ile-a-Vache. A special tourist police force called Politour, a name adapted from a similar force set up in the Dominican Republic, has already been formed in Haiti to provide added security in tourist areas. Never mind the fact that everyone in Haiti is in need of added security. This focus on Dominican style tourism is particularly worrisome on the tiny offshore island of Ile-a-Vache. bookmanlit/ileavachehaiti.html
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 17:30:23 +0000
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