A More or Less Civil Affair
Chapter 29
The President of Haiti had been getting many angry calls from his cronies in the ministries. He hadn’t realized how many strings were attached to the United Nations largess to bail out his country. He certainly expected the peacekeepers, but not the many shadows walking the halls of his government’s buildings. The shadows called themselves mentors, helping the nation get back on its feet. But in actuality, they were running his government, writing policies, issuing directives, making the big decisions and controlling the funding of everything and everyone. His ministers had been pushed aside in the name of expediency and progress. Major changes were being made which he couldn’t stop.
He’d loudly protested to the Secretary General, but his pleas were ignored. His blustering about sovereignty and the Haitian constitution fell on equally deaf ears. If he didn’t like it, the UN would cease all funding, shut down all projects and pull out of Haiti. Quid pro quo was to be the gentlemen’s agreement or the deal was off and the UN would pack up and leave.
The president realized the consequences that would have on his country’s well being and his own pocketbook. He resigned himself to the new reality and continued to rubber stamp everything that came across his desk. He was humiliated, but still in office, at least for now. He, like everyone else, had heard the rumors about a referendum to change his term of office. Maybe other changes to the constitution as well, none of which pleased him or his political party. Once in power, stay in power was the unofficial motto of all corrupt politicos. He’d made good money while in office and badly wanted another term at the trough.
***
The Secretary General laughed to himself as he hung up the phone. The guy really had some chutzpa, he thought. He’d known the president fairly well when he was only a minister, one of the more avaricious ones he worked with during his ambassadorship to the nation. His disingenuous pitch to back off and let Haitians govern Haiti was laughable. He’d seen firsthand how governance, or lack thereof, worked in the country. By and large, it didn’t work very well and hadn’t for many decades. Conditions wouldn’t improve without intervention, he believed. And he’d now seized the opportunity to make changes before the entire country crumbled under the weight of inefficiency, poverty and corruption. A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down, as the song goes. Well, Haiti would get a large helping and he hoped the president would choke on it.
***
Georges St. Claire, a French Canadian and UN advisor, shadow and mentor was asking embarrassing questions of the Justice Minister, specifically what was being done about The Family’s actions against the Americans and its other illegal enterprises. The minister explained that Marie Clair Dumont, the family’s leader, was becoming a political force in Port-au-Prince and perhaps beyond. The president had ordered a hands-off approach regarding her activities so as to avoid any appearance of partisan politics. As to the illegal stuff, he pled ignorance, something he was very good at. But Georges didn’t buy what he was selling. The genie had been out of its bottle for a long time and everyone, other than the minister, was well aware of the subject of Mama Mambo and her nefarious businesses and insidious voodoo cult. But things were about to change and not in Mama’s favor.