by Jacqui Goddard, Ouanaminthe, The Sunday Times, July 6 2003

Just weeks ago, his fields were rich with corn and vegetables - treasured assets in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. But then the bulldozers arrived. Mr Eugene's crops were ripped from the soil by government contractors and he has been barred from his own land to make way for the construction of an industrial Free Trade Zone (FTZ) that will house cheap-labour factories producing clothes for leading brands including Levi's, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger and Hugo Boss.

"This is a crime against humanity," says Mr Eugene, 43, whose elderly father was chased away by armed Haitian police when he tried to access the plot to pick ripened mangoes from a tree.

"While these big companies are getting rich, we will be struggling to even feed ourselves. Planting crops is how we survive here - our life comes from the earth. We cannot eat rocks and cement, we need plantains and corn."

The Maribahoux Plain is one of the country's most fertile agricultural regions. Located on Haiti's border with the Dominican Republic, it has a production capacity of more than 30,500 tons of food per year, enough to feed half a million people.

But under a scheme jointly approved by the two countries' governments and funded by the World Bank, 54 peasant farmers including Mr Eugene have been evicted to free up land for the first phase of the FTZ.

Ultimately there will be around 40 factories along the 360km border, creating a 500,000-sq.metre trading park from which goods will be exported free of taxes and tariffs.

The first phase involves the building of a 150,000-sq.metre worksite for Grupo M, a Dominican Republic textile company that will lease the land from the Haitian government for 25 years. It supplies some of the world's top clothing outlets, boasting: "We dress the world, stitch by stitch."

Grupo M and the World Bank say the first phase will generate up to 4,500 jobs for Haitians, while the entire project could provide more than ten times that number. The firm will provide workers with housing, a training unit, a day care centre and a clinic.

"There has been a lot of discussion about the social and environmental aspects and we have offered to move farmers to new land. We are very sensitive to the issues," said a spokeswoman at the company's headquarters in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

But Mr Eugene claims the bulldozer teams that seized his fields in March came unannounced and there has been no offer of new land. Whereas he could previously expect annual crop profits of around 70,000 Haitian Gourdes (£1,300), he says the government has offered around a third of that sum as total compensation. "I don't want the money," he said defiantly. "My land is not for sale."

A kindly-faced man, he lives with wife Anouse, 33, and their seven children in a cramped concrete home in Ouanaminthe, a town of 70,000 people located a three-hour drive along a rocky unmade road from the second city of Cap-Haitien. Pigs, goats and chickens wander the streets, mingling with donkeys and horses carrying farmers and their produce to market. Few people here have even heard of the multi-billion pound designer brands for whom their crops have been sacrificed.

Gaston Etienne, coordinator of Komite Defens Pitobert, a farmers' advocacy group, said: "you will be buying your fashion items while we are earning a pitance making them."

Mr Eugene has now taken work as a teacher, earning 2,500 Gourdes (£62) a month, but needs a minimum of 200 Gourdes (£5) a day to feed his family, including daughter Aisha, born only ten days ago. "My dreams for Aisha's future have completely changed," he lamented. "I will not be able to even afford her powdered milk. "

For each of the 54 farmers who lost land, up to 50 farmworkers - many of them elderly - have also lost their livelihoods, but only those under the age of 35 will be offered factory jobs. It is not yet known how many others will lose land in the next phases of development.

In addition, critics condemn the factories as "sweatshops," farmworkers who have been offered jobs there reporting that their wages will be just 10% of what they used to earn.

Leading Haitian economist Camille Chalmers, citing the example set by FTZ sweatshops established in Haiti in the 1960s under former president JeanClaude Duvalier, predicts a swift "ghetto-isation" of the Maribahoux area as cheap housing springs up and thousands pour in searching for work.

"The job creation rhetoric is propaganda," said Mr Chalmers, founder of PAPDA, the Haitian Advocacy for an Alternative Development Programme. "They talk about jobs being created, not the jobs that are being lost. There will be a real human cost."

"They should work with farmers to increase agricultural productivity and feed Haiti's people, rather than destroying the country's bread basket to benefit foreign investors."

There are also concerns that the region's four rivers will be polluted by the industrial activity.

At the World Trade Organisation summit in Cancun, Mexico, this September, the British government will be pushing for a new agreement that will govern foreign investment in developing countries such as Haiti. The government, along with the EU, claims that the deal would create fairer trading practices and protect the poor.

But non-governmental groups including the development agency ActionAid, which will tomorrow lobby Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt in London, complain that the deal would actually make it easier for big corporations to expand their wealth at the expense of some of the world's most poverty-stricken people. They say Haiti is a prime example of how things can go wrong.

"While foreign investment can help combat poverty, it can only bring benefits if carefully managed," said ActionAid trade analyst John Hilary.

In Ouanaminthe, there is fear over the insecurity the FTZ has brought. Farmer Francis Bosse, 74, another of the towns' farmers who lost their land, said: "Land is your inheritance, but now I have none to hand over to my son. This was the pearl of Haiti, but what they are building on this land is misery."

Now peasants' plots have been bulldozed and paved over to build the first of 17 "free trade zones" (FTZ) which are planned to extend along the entire length of the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Some 800 workers are being trained to work in the three initial plants, which government officials say will begin functioning sometime later this month.

To hear the Haitian government tell it, these zones are going to bring jobs and development to the region. There have been promises made that, beginning in September, there will be free schooling for all Ouanaminthe's children, round the clock electricity, a potable water network, and a new paved road to Cap Haïtien, the north's main city to the west.

But this rosy picture contrasts sharply with the harsh reality of Cité Soleil. This sprawling slum of dingy tin and cardboard shacks set amid meandering open sewage canals and smoking garbage heaps is the by-product of Haiti's first FTZ - the Industrial Park near the Port-au-Prince airport - launched under the Duvalier regime in the early 1970s.

An army of Haitian and Dominican workers toil from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. building the factories, customs area, and access road to the Dominican Republic, through which all the zone's products are destined to flow. Dominican workers are doing most of the skilled work like carpentry, electrical wiring and plumbing. Haitian workers are mostly laborers, digging ditches, hammering stakes, and carrying iron rods and cement sacks. Dominicans are paid 800 pesos (US$24) a day and Haitians only 35 (US$1.06), another harbinger of discrepancies to come.

There is yet a third class of construction worker: Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. They are being paid 375 pesos (US$11.36) a day. Heavily-armed Dominican soldiers watch over the work inside the zone, while large detachments of Haitian police guard activities on the outside. The zone also has its own private security force, headed by a Haitian who is a renowned criminal in the Northeast.

Most Haitians, including those around Ouanaminthe, did not learn about the project to build FTZs on the Maribahoux plain until President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Dominican counterpart Hipolito Mejia alighted in the area on Apr. 8, 2002 and dug the first ceremonial shovels-full of dirt (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 20, No. 4, 4/10/02).Three months later, Ben Dupuy, secretary general of the National Popular Party (PPN), made public a secret "Trilateral Agreement" between Haiti, the DR, and the United States which would effectively turn a 5 km corridor along the 375 km border into a "Border Zone" filled with industrial parks, highways, and airports. This is the prime feature of the U.S. State Department-championed "Hispaniola Plan," which aims to convert the foreign debt of Haiti and the DR into "tripartite" (read U.S.) controlled territory i.e. the "Border Zone." The PPN and many other progressive organizations have strongly condemned this scheme.

On June 20, Haiti's Commerce and Industry Minister announced his approval of two more free trade zones. The first, approved last December, has the Industrial Development Company, a Haitian-Dominican consortium, building a zone on 160 acres near Ouanaminthe. The second, signed on June 11, allows the Hispaniola Investment Company (HINSA) to build a 400 square kilometer zone in Drouillard, near Cité Soleil.

Many peasants on the Maribarahoux plain are bitter, not only about their expropriation, but about never being consulted or informed of the Haitian government's plans for the region. Some 54 peasants so far are being forced to sell their land, but only 14 have so far accepted payment, according to Gaston Etienne, an agricultural engineer with the Pitobert Farmers' Defense Committee.

Etienne also notes that the Haitian government has turned a blind eye to the destruction of farmland in Pitobert. "The new law on free trade zones does take into account what we have said to them," he said. "The text specifies that farming areas are to be exempt. But the authorities couldn't care less."

Depuis le 18 mars 2003, des tracteurs dominicains, sous haute sécurité de l’Unité Départementale de Maintien de l’Ordre(UDMO) et d’autres agents de la Police Nationale, procèdent à la destruction de nombreux jardins de paysans à Nan Cacao et à Pitobert, deux localités de la Plaine agricole de Maribahoux. Ils ont détruit des champs de bananes, de mais, d’arachides, de manioc, de malanga, d’haricots, etc. sur plus d’une soixantaine d’hectares. La plupart de ces jardins se trouvaient presqu’à maturité. Aucun des exploitants n’avait été prévenu de l’opération. Dans certains endroits, les exploitations ont été livrées au pillage avant d’être rasées.

Plus d’une cinquantaine de paysans ont ainsi assisté, impuissants, à la disparition de plusieurs journées de travail et de leurs moyens de survie. Quelques-uns ont reçu une pitance de 7,500 gourdes par quart de carreau. Mais la majorité des victimes ont refusé cette somme qu’elles qualifient de dérisoire. Quant aux métayers, ils n’ont rien reçu comme dédommagement pour leurs jardins détruits.

Les planteurs lésés dans leur droit ont fait appel à un avocat, Maitre Milius Méhu Garçon. Ce dernier avait requis l’ordre du juge de Paix de la zone, M. Jacquelin François, pour effectuer un constat des dégâts causés par les tracteurs dominicains aux jardins des paysans. Le 23 avril 2003, l’avocat a reçu du juge une lettre où il déclare : « En vertu d’un ordre du commissaire du gouvernement près du tribunal de première instance de Fort-Liberté, m’obligeant à me garder de mettre pied en cet endroit jusqu’à nouvel ordre, cette requête ne peut être agréée pour l’instant ». Sur cette base, le juge de paix a refusé de se déplacer pour le constat légal. L’Etat haïtien a-t-il déjà perdu le contrôle d’une partie du territoire national?

Pour expliquer leur acharnement à faire disparaître à tout prix les jardins presqu’à maturité, les autorités haïtiennes avancent comme prétexte la présence selon elles, de gens armés qui se seraient cachés sous les champs de mais et qui auraient tiré à l’arme automatique contre un tracteur dominicain venu faire une petite place pour implanter un bureau. Cette déclaration a été faite par le consul haïtien à Dajabon, Jean Baptiste Bien-Aimé au micro d’une station de radio venue s’enquérir des faits. Les autres autorités de la zone se refusent à toute déclaration à la presse. Aucune preuve de cette attaque armée contre le tracteur dominicain n’a été montrée.

Jusqu’à date, les opérations se poursuivent dans un climat de peur. Les gens évitent de donner leurs opinions sur le projet de zone franche, tandis que les agents de l’UDMO imposent une interdiction musclée à toute personne désireuse de tirer des photos ou de filmer le site. Les têtes connues pour leur opposition au projet de zone franche n’ont pas le droit de s’approcher du terrain. Un jeune homme de 17 ans a été arrêté en lieu et place de son oncle, membre du Comité de Défense de Pitobert. La Police a déclaré suspecter l’oncle de détention d’armes illégales. Des fouilles effectuées dans sa résidence n’ont révélé la présence d’aucune arme. Le monsieur disposait d’insecticides pour ses plantations et de la colle d’ébénisterie. Après quatre(4) jours de détention à la prison de Fort-Liberté, le jeune homme a été libéré provisoirement, suite à l’intervention d’un avocat de Oanaminthe. Il se sent encore très menacé ainsi que son oncle qui ne peut pas circuler librement.

A cette date(fin avril), les tracteurs ont pratiquement terminé leur oeuvre de destruction de tous les champs qui se trouvaient sur les habitations Nan Cacao et Pitobert. Ils mettent désormais le cap sur Gaya, une autre localité plus proche de Ouanaminthe. D’après les informations reçues, plusieurs maisons seront également rasées dans cette localité. Mais jusqu’à présent les résidents n’ont pas été prévenus d’une telle éventualité. La DGI de Ouanaminthe, auprès de qui les concernés s’étaient rendus en mars dernier pour payer l’impôt locatif, a refusé de recevoir le montant.

Le Comité de Défense de Pitobert dénonce avec force, l’attitude du gouvernement Lavalas qui s’entête à sacrifier la fertile plaine agricole de Maribahoux au profit de l’installation d’une zone franche. Le comité ne comprend pas comment ce même gouvernement qui fait fi des cris des paysans de Maribahoux et de nombreuses personnes qui connaissent le potentiel agricole de cette plaine, peuvent-elle parler encore de production nationale et célébrer la fête du travail et de l’agriculture ?

Le Comité de Défense de Pitobert appelle les agriculteurs des autres régions du pays à la vigilance, car ce processus de dépossession des paysans au profit des zones franches est un programme qui vise toute la zone frontalière.

A l’occasion du premier mai, fête de l’Agriculture et du Travail, le Comité de Défense de Pitobert sollicite la solidarité de tous ceux et celles qui croient encore au pays, à l’importance de l’agriculture, pour unir leurs voix à la sienne afin de sauver Maribahoux. Nous sollicitons votre mobilisation pour faire comprendre aux dirigeants haïtiens la nécessité d’irriguer cette plaine qui peut contribuer à garantir la sécurité alimentaire du pays. Nous réclamons de l’encadrement pour tous les paysans afin qu’ils puissent rentabiliser leur production. Si l’Etat veut à tout prix installer une zone franche dans le Nord-Est, des alternatives peuvent être trouvées dans des endroits arides comme la Savane Dekle ou le Morne Casse.

"Haitian and foreign investors will have an opportunity to work together and this program will begin at the dawn of 2003," exclaimed Haitian Finance Minister Gustave Faubert.

However, all Dominican press reports have indicated that Dominicans would own the 26 factories projected for the two planned free trade zones. Nonetheless, a few token junior partners might be found from among Haiti's assembly-factory bourgeoisie. The Apaid family, for example, which runs Haiti's oldest and largest collection of sweat-shops, already has a few plants operating in the DR.

Haiti's primary role in the projected free trade zones is to lease the land, which will allow U.S.-quota-evading Dominican plant owners to put "Made in Haiti" on the label, and to provide the workers, at a considerable wage savings. Haitian workers are generally paid $1 a day, Dominicans $7.

It remains unclear how many sweat-shop jobs the free trade zones would even create. During a ground-breaking ceremony last April, Dominican President Hipolito Mejia boasted that they would eventually provide wages to 8,000 Haitians (see Haïti Progrès, Vol. 20, No. 4, 4/10/02).

Haitian Minister of Commerce Lesly Goutier was even more optimistic. "The signing of this project is a success and around 80,000 jobs will be created starting in January 2003," he said. So far, there are no signs of this coming true.

In fact, it remains to be seen how far this project, like so many before it, really goes since it faces tremendous hurdles, not the least of which is opposition from the population of the Maribahoux plain, which occupies a region known as Pitobert. The area comprises about 80% of the fertile, food-growing land in Haiti's generally barren northeast.

On Jan. 13, the Pitobert Farmers' Defense Committee (KDP) held a press conference in Port-au-Prince strongly denouncing the government's signing of a deal with Fernando Capellán, Grupo M's president, just at the beginning of planting season. KDP Spokesman Gaston Etienne noted that demonstrations over the past year had "pushed the Haitian government to put out a communiqué announcing the demagogic changing of the site for the free trade zone" to "another fertile plain called Nan Kakawo situated on the other side of the river and only a few meters from the former site."

Despite the assertion by Haitian government officials that they have held extensive meetings and consultations with local representatives, Etienne charged that "no government official has until now judged it necessary to meet with local authorities and other leaders of Ouanaminthe to hear their opinion on this free trade zone project."

Etienne also asked for clarification on the length of the contract, on the number, nationality and salary of would-be factory workers, and on how profits would be reinvested in the area. "Also, will the security of this free trade zone be guaranteed by the Dominican army as it was during the inauguration ceremonies?" Etienne asked.

Predicting that the zones would only increase tensions between the DR and Haiti, the KDP called on the Haitian government not to establish any free trade zones along the border or on fertile land and to shoulder its responsibility "to irrigate the Maribahoux plain and to assist the Haitian farmers to increase and improve national production."