Haiti the somnambulist

One year after the devastating earthquake Haiti has not recovered from its effects. If anything, it appears to have become accustomed to living with them. Homeless people continue to throng in temporary encampments and the capital remains in ruins, with the additional threat of a cholera epidemic which is not quite being brought under control. And, in terms of fraud and vote-rigging suspicions, the presidential elections currently in progress are no different from those which took place before the disaster which killed 316,000 inhabitants and left half a million homeless, according to the latest figures provided by the national government. Besides the cost in human lives, the state apparatus also succumbed to the quake's tremors, turning Haiti into a somnambulist nation which cannot seem to snap out of it and wake up.

Despite the wave of international solidarity prompted by the earthquake, the experiences accumulated in previous disasters advised against optimism over the aid arriving in its totality and that reconstruction objectives would be met in a short period of time. But in the end, the most skeptical predictions have been proven right. The sacrifice of those who continue to work on the ground has not been enough to lay even minimal foundations for the recovery of Haiti, whose most immediate needs still take up practically the entirety of the international relief effort. On the other hand, it should be remembered that only half of the aid pledged by donors has been forthcoming.

Taking a purely humanitarian perspective on Haiti's problems, leaving to one side any political demands on its leaders, could lead to the establishment of a vicious circle, with no clear way out. International aid is vital, but so is the existence of a government which is both honest and committed to the reconstruction effort. It is a cruel contradiction that the international community's efforts to improve the lot of Haitians serve to free up the hands of the country's leadership to engage in corruption, rather than taking care of their people's future.

The Organization of American States (OAS) denounced cases of fraud in the first round of the presidential election which were held at the end of 2010. Just as it must live up to aid pledges, it is equally important that the international community does not make concessions to such acts. The earthquake was a natural disaster which deserved to be confronted with solidarity. Corruption is a political millstone worthy only of condemnation.