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Is Haiti safe again?
I mean sort of safe. "Haiti safe." Reed Lindsay reports:
Today, Haiti's reputation is undeserved, say security analysts and officials from the U.N. peacekeeping mission. They argue that Haiti is no more violent than any other Latin American country. "It's a big myth," said Fred Blaise, spokesman for the U.N. police force in Haiti. "Port-au-Prince is no more dangerous than any big city. You can go to New York and get pickpocketed and held at gunpoint."
He may not be a totally objective and disinterested observer. How about this:
Reliable statistics are scarce in Haiti, but U.N. data indicate that the country could be among the safest in the region. The U.N. peacekeeping mission recorded 487 homicides in Haiti last year, or about 5.6 per 100,000 people.
A U.N.-World Bank study last year estimated the Caribbean's average homicide rate at 30 per 100,000, with Jamaica registering nearly nine times as many — 49 homicides per 100,000 people — as those recorded by the United Nations in Haiti.
In 2006, the neighboring Dominican Republic notched more than four times more homicides per capita than those registered in Haiti: 23.6 per 100,000, according to the Central American Observatory on Violence. Even the United States would appear to have a higher homicide rate: 5.7 per 100,000 in 2006, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
I believe these numbers; at some margin even murder is a normal good. But most convincing, I think, is this:
Viva Rio, a Brazilian-based violence reduction group that came to Haiti at the request of the U.N. mission's disarmament program, has found Port-au-Prince's armed groups more receptive than those in Rio de Janeiro's slums.
Elsewhere in the country poor Haitians are eating cakes of dirt, and William Griffiths points me to this:
While millions of Haitians go hungry, containers full of food are stacking up in the nation's ports because of government red tape - leaving tons of beans, rice and other staples to rot under a sweltering sun or be devoured by vermin.
A government attempt to clean up a corrupt port system that has helped make Haiti a major conduit for Colombian cocaine has added new layers of bureaucracy - and led to backlogs so severe they are being felt 600 miles away in Miami, where cargo shipments to Haiti have ground almost to a standstill.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 8, 2008 at 12:15 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink
Comments
Cost benefit question: If Haiti just let everything in without inspection (and perhaps a per-container tax), would the benefit (free-flow of goods) outweigh the costs (drugs going to the U.S.)? From a Haitian standpoint, it's a no-brainer. From the U.S. standpoint, it's all bad. Thus, Haitians are "starving" because of U.S. drug policy. Who does their government serve? (Answer: Follow the money: who pays the government?)
Posted by: David Zetland at Mar 8, 2008 12:26:05 PM
Does kidnapping count as violence? It definitely impinges on safety. During the last election period (2006, Preval), the kidnapping rates skyrocketed past that of Colombia. [Sorry, don't have a source to back this up - but I remember reading this somewhere] During election periods, the kidnapping spikes to help pay for the political campaigns (and continue afterwards as protest/destabilization tactics). Other times, I would theorize, it's not so much in the general interest to kill people but robberies (armed and otherwise) are high as people do what they can to avoid starving.
Posted by: John at Mar 8, 2008 2:49:03 PM
Haitians are starving, not "starving." U.S. drug policy has nothing to do with it. Can you show another port city anywhere in the world with this kind of "U.S. drug policy" problem?
Posted by: Max at Mar 8, 2008 2:53:38 PM
Haitians are starving, not "starving." U.S. drug policy has nothing to do with it. Can you show another port city anywhere in the world with this kind of "U.S. drug policy" problem?
Posted by: Max at Mar 8, 2008 2:54:06 PM
National, or even citywide, crime statistics such as murder miss one crucial point, namely that the most important factor is location, location, location.
For example, in Boston you are a lot less likely to get murdered in Beacon Hill than in Roxbury, but both locations get counted in murder stats.
Therefore the more relevant question is what are the crime rates in the areas you intend to visit? You are going to be a lot safer if your itinerary is made up of museum visits and the like as opposed to if your time is spent in red light districts.
Posted by: happyjuggler0 at Mar 8, 2008 4:03:31 PM
i think there are some new 5-star resorts that have been built there. time to go while it is cheap if these numbers are right.
Posted by: oops at Mar 8, 2008 5:11:15 PM
Nice point about Viva Rio. Great website! Congrats!
Posted by: Cristiano at Mar 8, 2008 10:19:54 PM
Tyler: What makes you think murder statistics from a country like Haiti are reliable? I bet a lot of people get killed and buried without the event every being recorded anyway.
David Zetland: If Haiti opened its ports up and let everything in, there's be less opportunity for corruption and hence less opportunity for drug trade. I don't see how Haitian inspections reduce drug traffic *TO* the U.S. To Haiti, maybe. But not to the U.S. Opening up Haiti to imports is a gain for everybody -- except the corrupt government officials taking the bribes. So, guess why those restrictions are still in place.
Posted by: Robert Book at Mar 9, 2008 3:25:47 AM
A few quick responses from someone with some (limited) experience of Haiti:
(a) I'd happy to believe that Haiti's murder rate is low - but I'm dubious about basing that on statistics from the UN force. What proportion of homicides would the UN actually be aware of? They certainly don't have the trust of the Haitian people.
(b) Perhaps the bureaucracy problems at the port could act as an extra kind of import tariff. If that continues long enough to stimulate some domestic production, then I'm all for it. Yes, I'm a trained economist and should be in favour of free trade - but seeing how domestic agriculture has been wiped out by dumping of cheap American food is tragic.
(c) To "oops": yes, there are some very nice hotels in Haiti, but I'm afraid they are not cheap. They are full of overpaid UN staff, journalists and "aid" workers. And don't forget that Haiti is also an extremely unequal society: there is a minority who are very wealthy. The swanky restaurants in Port-au-Prince were out of my price range.
(d) John: sorry, but the spike in kidnappings at the end of 2005 happened at a time when nobody knew when or if the presidential election was going to be held. There didn't seem to be many kidnappings during the election campaign itself (in February 2006), nor for several months afterwards.
Not that I have a better theory. After a year in Haiti, in which several of my friends and acquaintances were kidnapped, I still never really understood who was behind it, and why.
Posted by: Rob Fuller at Mar 10, 2008 11:42:24 AM
I would have to agree that I would probably be pretty nervous getting off of a boat in Haiti. This does not mean that Haiti is actually more dangerous than anywhere else in the world. I think that if there is one thing making Haiti more violent it would be the lack of food for its population. If there is one thing that would make me go crazy it would be the thought of starving. The country needs to find a happy medium between checking incoming cargo for drugs and just red taping every container that comes into the country.
Posted by: Fletcher King at Mar 10, 2008 4:14:53 PM
I am a Haitian who travels to Haiti 6 times a year and though grew up in America have always been in touch with the country and believe me, Haiti's crime rate is not anywhere close to its neighboring countries...despite what is always being advertised, Haitians are not generally violent people.
See the trouble stems from our reputation for revolting which happens every few decades and then you have a spike in ugliness which the media then takes and turns into a negative campaign against the country...in Port Au Prince where 90 something percent of crime takes place, if you have 4 people killed within a month the news will come back that the city is under siege, it has been this way since the early 80s when I lived there...
Haiti is not an unsafe country to go to...when I am in Haiti I meet a lot of foreigners whom visit over 10 times a year and the will testify the country's reputation stems from more myth and prejudice then reality.
Posted by: J at Apr 8, 2008 4:19:16 AM
I AM SCEDULED TO TAKE A MISSION TRIP TO HAITI IN JUNE? WE WILL LAND IN PORT AU PRINCE AND THEN GO TO ANOTHER AREA ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF AWAY.............SHOULD WE BE SAFE?
Posted by: L at Apr 22, 2008 5:18:03 PM
Unfortunately, Reed Lindsay has disappointed us all and turned into an apologist for UN operations in Haiti. It is perhaps because he now has a vested interest by virtue of a NGO largely funded by his mother in Haiti. NGOs by definition have a vested interest in stability and presenting a rosy picture while the reality is otherwise.
http://haitiaction.net/News/HIP/4_13_8/4_13_8.html
The dire situation of Haiti's poor went largely ignored by Alexis' government and the United Nations. International press reports in the months leading to the open rebellion against hunger in the streets led casual observers to believe the situation was normalizing. The international press actually helped to obscure the reality of hunger and misery in Haiti. On March 8. 2008, Reed Lindsay reported in the Washington Times, "U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti say they are battling an image of fear that is keeping the Caribbean nation mired in hunger and disease, with little hope of attracting foreign visitors and investment.' Lindsay's fundamental point being that the only thing standing between Haiti and prosperity was merely the perception of ‘hunger and disease.'
Posted by: John Holmstead at Apr 24, 2008 5:06:26 AM
so.............it it safe to travel to haiti?? or should mission teams stay away??
Posted by: L at Apr 24, 2008 2:22:22 PM
"I am a Haitian who travels to Haiti 6 times a year and though grew up in America have always been in touch with the country and believe me, Haiti's crime rate is not anywhere close to its neighboring countries...despite what is always being advertised, Haitians are not generally violent people."
"Haiti is not an unsafe country to go to...when I am in Haiti I meet a lot of foreigners whom visit over 10 times a year and the will testify the country's reputation stems from more myth and prejudice then reality."
That may be J, but you could also be biased. It's quite clear that Haiti doesn't even have a proper murder rate and secondly, it IS the most dangerous place in the Caribbean anyway.
Posted by: Ballbag at Jul 15, 2008 8:12:56 AM
