February 18, 2012
As
Americans were gearing up for last week's Super Bowl championship,
Haiti's president Michel Martelly was on a plane to the World Economic
Forum to recruit players interested in what one businessman dubbed "the
Super Bowl of Disasters" Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.[1] The
Irish-owned cell phone company Digicel footed his trip there, and hosted
a regional business tour complete with a gala ball before his return to
a country still reeling from crisis conditions in housing, jobs, and
basic rights.[2]
Haiti's
status as prime-time jostling space for prospective investors is not
new. Many a corporation, lobbyist, and consultant has seen Haiti's
losses as their gain, leveraging humanitarianism for profit. Plenty of
the $1.1 billion in disaster aid has gone not to desperate Haitians but
to inside-the-Beltway contractors. Often the very same corporations have wrested
financial and political gain from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the
countries hit by the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, the Gulf Coast
after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans after the ensuing flood of 2005,
and lots of other places. The same deals have been cut over Haiti in the
past, too, particularly during periods of political instability.
The
earthquake has provided a fresh wave of opportunity. In the first year
after the earthquake, the US government awarded more than 1,500
contracts worth $267 million. All went to US firms except 20, worth $4.3
million, which went to Haitian businesses.[3] Among
the American corporations that received contracts, we've seen
everything: many millions going to companies that had had previous
contracts cancelled for bad practices, that had paid out as much as
eight-figure settlements for violence happening under their watch, that
had been investigated by Congress for gaming the system, or that had
been the subject of federal reports accusing wastage of funds.[4] We've
seen corporate executives and members of Congress going through a
revolving door and leveraging both sides for contracts. We've seen
public funds given without any competition or transparency, quite a few
to friends of the Clintons and other well-placed insiders.
Local
labor and production, which are critical elements in economic recovery,
have been trumped for American business profits. According to federal
procurement data, among contracts which provide products (as opposed to
services), 77% were for products manufactured in the US. They don't list
which, if any, of the remaining 23% involve any Haitian materials or
labor.[5]
Two
months after the earthquake, companies gathered in a luxury hotel in
Miami for a "Haiti Summit" to discuss post-earthquake contracting
possibilities. The meeting was sponsored by the International Peace
Operations Association (IPOA), but these were no peaceniks. Their
members are predominantly private mercenary companies that enforce
'security' in war and disaster zones for the US government because,
unlike elected entities, they can completely avoid public scrutiny and
accountability. They included such companies as Triple Canopy, which
took over Blackwater's contract in Iraq.[6] One of the corporate
representatives at the Summit described the outlook: "Their
infrastructure is pretty much destroyed, communications are destroyed,
there's a lot of opportunities there for companies, particularly US
countries [sic] because of the close proximity."[7] The
Summit was apparently worthwhile, as US government paid out more than
$10 million to the industry for "guard services," and almost $20,000 for
riot shields and suits.[8]
Below
are a few examples of post-earthquake contracts and grants, selected to
show just some of the problems at play. They offer a small glimpse into
a much larger, secretive world of disaster deals. We're grateful to our
investigative journalist colleagues who, alongside us, have kept heavy
on the scent of these corporations and brought buried information to
light.
^^^^^^
"American
corporations and their stakeholders must understand how helping Haiti
over the long term also helps them," said the non-profit CHF
International in its March 2010 board report. "By contributing to
Haiti's reconstruction in a lasting, meaningful way, companies will be
helping to build a new, more vibrant Caribbean market for their own
goods and services."[9]
CHF's involvement demonstrates how even non-profits can drive development
that props up American business interests on the backs of poor
Haitians. What CHF refers to as "helping Haiti" has meant using US tax
dollars to underwrite textile sweatshops, making it easier and more
profitable to score the cheapest source of labor in the hemisphere. In
2006, USAID gave CHF a $104 million, 4-year contract to help "existing
industries to increase their capacity, efficiency and reach new
markets," primarily through the export textile industry. The money
subsidized CHF's creation of infrastructure such as roads around
industrial areas and training of factory workers on skills such as "how
to work in a formal work environment."[10] Bolstered by additional USAID
funding, this project continued after the earthquake.
CHF's
post-earthquake USAID contract, for $20.9 million, went to clean-up
projects, including cash-for-work.[11] Cash-for-work meant camp
residents engaging in hired-hand projects such as digging drainage
ditches and clearing debris, for a period of a few weeks. The scheme has
come under fire by camp residents and human rights groups, with even a
USAID evaluation raising some serious critiques.[12] The jobs are
unpredictable, workers have said, and while the short duration can
palliate personal crisis for the moment, the program quickly returns the
worker's family to its desperate state. Those hired are paid officially
at the unlivable minimum daily wage of 200 gourdes, or US$5, though
unofficially they often earn less. A Haiti Grassroots Watch expos'
found, furthermore, that cash-for-work hiring is often based on
corruption, with many workers having to pay a 'kickback, negotiate sex
(in the case of women) for a job, or affiliate with political parties or
candidates.[13] USAID also noted that cash-for-work programs it funded
increased risks of "serious and avoidable" accidents on the job "by
failing to develop and enforce consistent workplace safety rules and
accident procedures."[14]
CHF's
projects, based on factory jobs and cash-for-work, have given neither
livable incomes to employees nor offered development opportunities to
the nation. Meanwhile, CHF has gained humanitarian clout and an influx
of funding, and its garment industry partners sit happily with the
perks.
^^^^^^
Using
tried-and-true strategies of political manipulation, some corporations
have been able to edge their way into post-earthquake contracts despite
histories of fraud and corruption.
AshBritt
Environmental, for instance, has a record of disaster response
elsewhere that spells trouble for Haiti. The company had received $900
million in contracts for Hurricane Katrina clean-up, after hiring
lobbyists formerly involved in state government.[15] An MSNBC
investigation later brought to light complaints by local contractors, a
mayor, and local legislators that the company's work was too slow, that
it overcharged, and that it was not hiring local contractors.[16] The
extent of "layer cake" contracting was so extreme that in one case,
AshBritt was paid $23 per cubic yard of debris removed but subcontracted
through three middleman companies so that the company that actually
removed the rubble received $3 per cubic yard.[17]) Even a 2006 federal
report accused the company of wasting money in this subcontractor
layering after Katrina.[18]
Given
its experience, AshBritt wasted no time unleashing its skills in
lobbying and political pressure to get in on the Haiti game. Early in
2010, the company paid $90,000 to a lobbying firm to pressure the
government for Haiti contracts, according to disclosure records
described in the press.[19] In a prime instance of revolving door
between public and private sectors, one of the lobbyists working on the
case was the former chief of staff for Senator John Kerry.[20] Kerry, in
turn, was the senator who co-sponsored the legislation for Haiti relief
funding.
With
influential people circulating between the givers and receivers of
funds, AshBritt was confident enough about future contracts that it
spent an initial $25 million setting up for anticipated operations in
Haiti with a soccer field-sized base camp and services to house future
project managers.[21] In July 2010, AshBritt won a $500,000 US
government contract for debris removal, the first of what the company
anticipated would be many contracts to come their way.[22] Continuing
the revolving door trend, another lobbyist for the firm was the former
USAID Mission Director in Iraq, Lewis Lucke, who was paid $30,000 per
month to help win contracts via a partnership venture AshBritt set
up.[23] Lucke claimed he "played an integral role" in obtaining three
contracts for the company, including $10 million from the World Bank and
about $10 million more from the Haitian government (one of the first
major government contracts for debris removal).[24] As of this writing,
not even the company's website contains an update on what work it has or
has not completed in Haiti.
^^^^^^
Like AshBritt, CH2M Hill, a large engineering and construction firm, should
have raised warning signals as a company to be hired on the taxpayer
dollar. A government database that monitors federal contracts reveals a
track record of corruption, listing nine instances of misconduct for the
company since 1995.[25] In one case, the company was paid $4.1 million
for a contract in Iraq though no work was actually completed. [26] On
the Gulf Coast, a US government investigation of $45 million paid to
CH2M and the three other companies in no-bid contracts for Katrina
response was declared wasteful spending. [27] CH2M was also accused in a
congressional investigation in 1992 of misusing money during its
cleanup of toxic waste sites in the U.S. More than two million dollars
of this contract were allegedly used for "unallowable and questionable
costs," such as $11,379 for a Christmas party and $2750 for specialty
chocolates.[28] The company is listed in the top 50 of U.S.-based
contractors and has been a major player in wartime contracting in Iraq
and Afghanistan.[29]
The
track record was nothing that some strategic lobbying efforts couldn't
mitigate, however. The lobbyist who headed up CH2M Hill's efforts to win
contracts in Haiti was Larry LaRocco, a former congressman from Idaho
who now runs his own lobbying firm.[30] And unsurprisingly, the company
spent half a million dollars in political contributions in 2010. [31]
Thus equipped with politicians in its pocket, CH2M was well-positioned
to compete in the latest contract game. It received its first
post-earthquake contract just days after the disaster, and was given a
joint contract with KBR Global Service (itself notorious due to its Iraq
and Afghanistan activities) for facilities operations support at the
end of 2010.[32]
^^^^^^
In
the case of a few other contracts that we know to be operating in
Haiti, we've spent hour after hour on the scent. We've scoured internet
resources, news articles, and company websites to track companies we
know received post-earthquake contracts in Haiti. Nothing. Not even a
mention, sometimes, in the 100-plus-page 2010 annual reports.
What
we have been unable to uncover is at least as alarming as what we have
learned about some of the firms receiving millions from the US
government, and what they have done with those millions. We wonder
whether the US government has had any more knowledge or oversight of the
corporate actions than have the corporation's investors. As for the
American people, they have no way to know how their money has been spent
or what has been done in their names. The lack of transparency has also
given a green light to profiteers to neglect standards, quality, and
honesty.
There
is one group for whom the secrecy, foul play, taking of power that
should never be taken, giving away of what should never be given away,
matters most of all: Haitians, the ones whose country is being treated
like a Monopoly game. They alone will have to live with the long-term
outcome of what foreign companies build, demolish, restructure, or steal
in their country.
 Copyleft Other Worlds. You
may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text
or original research you use to Deepa Panchang, Beverly Bell, and Tory
Field, Other Worlds.
[1] Mike Clary, "Broward Rivals Battle for Work in Post-Quake Haiti," Sun-Sentinel.com, July 14, 2010.
[2]
Paul Cullen, "Attracting trade now focus for Haiti's president," The
Irish Times,
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/0130/1224310943929.html
[3] Alex Dupuy, "One Year after the Earthquake, Foreign Help is Actually Hurting Haiti," Washington Post, January 7, 2011.
[4] Emma Perez-Trevino, "Beating Death Lawsuit Ends in Settlement," The Brownsville Herald online, January 7, 2010, http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/rosa-107144-settlement-beating.... Martha Brannigan and Jacqueline Charles, "U.S. Firms Want Part in Haiti Cleanup," Miami Herald, February 9, 2010.
[5] "Haiti Earthquake Report," Federal Procurement Data System, data updated as of 9/15/2011, https://www.fpds.gov/downloads/top_requests/Haiti_Earthquake_Report.xls.
[6] See, for example, Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (New York: Nation Books, 2007); Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (New York: Picador, 2007); Jeremy Scahill, "US Mercenaries Set Sights on Haiti," TheNation.com, February 1, 2010; and Anthony Fenton, "Private Contractors 'Like Vultures Coming to Grab the Loot," IPSNews.net, February 19, 2010.
[7] "Al Jazeera Reports on the Haiti 'Summit for Private Contractors," YouTube video, 3:32, Al Jazeera reporting, posted by "WebofDem," May 6, 2010, http://youtu.be/kkNCdy0GXyc.
[8] "Haiti Earthquake Report," Federal Procurement Data System, data updated as of 9/15/2011, https://www.fpds.gov/downloads/top_requests/Haiti_Earthquake_Report.xls.
[9] Jane Madden, "Corporations Must Consider Haiti's Long Term Needs," Philanthropy News Digest online, March 10, 2010, http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/commentary/co_item.jhtml?id=287300002.
[10]
"New USAID-Funded Haiti Apparel Center to Provide Training to Thousands
of Haitians in the Garment Industry," press release by USAID, August
11, 2010, http://www.usaid.gov/press/releases/2010/pr100811_1.html.
[11] USAID, Haiti Earthquake: Fact Sheet #48, April 2, 2010,
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/haiti/template/fs_sr/fy2010/haiti_eq_fs48_04-02-2010.pdf.
[12]Center for Economic and Policy Research, "USAID/OTI's Politicized, Problematic, Cash-for-Work Programs," December 21, 2010, http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/usaidotis-politicized-problematic-cash-for-work-programs; Ant n Ouvriye, Submission to the United Nations Universal Periodic Review: Labor Rights (Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2011), http://ijdh.org/archives/17948; and Office of Inspector General, Audit of USAID's Cash-for-Work Activities in Haiti (San Salvador: September 24, 2010), www.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy10rpts/1-521-10-009-p.pdf.
[13] Haiti Grassroots Watch, "Is Cash-for-work Working?", http://www.ayitikaleje.org/Dossier2Story2.
Haiti Grassroots Watch, "Cash for Work At What Cost,"
http://www.ayitikaleje.org/haiti-grassroots-watch-engli/2011/7/18/cash-for-work-at-what-cost.html.
[14] Office of Inspector General, Audit of USAID's Cash-for-Work Activities in Haiti, September 24, 2010, www.usaid.gov/oig/public/fy10rpts/1-521-10-009-p.pdf.
[15] Jordon Flaherty, "One year after Haiti earthquake, corporations profit while people suffer," Monthly Review Magazine, January 12, 2010. "It's who you know," CorpWatch, August 16th, 2006, http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14008
[16] Mike Brunker, "Dust flies over Katrina's debris," MSNBC, January 29, 20006, http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/2006/01/fighting_over_t.html
[17] Rita King, "Layers and Layers," CorpWatch, August 16, 2006, http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14011.
[18] Martha Brannigan and Jacqueline Charles, "U.S. Firms Want Part in Haiti Cleanup," Miami Herald, February 9, 2010.
[19] Kevin Bogardus, "Haiti's recovery aided by U.S. lobbyists," The Hill, October 11, 2010.
[20] Ibid.
[21] Ben Fox, "Masters of disaster: Foreign firms set up shop in Haiti and wait for construction boom," Associated Press, June 7, 2010.
[22] Mike Clary, "Broward rivals battle for work in post-quake Haiti," Sun Sentinel,
July 14, 2010,
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-07-14/news/fl-haiti-recovery-rivals-20100714_1_ashbritt-post-earthquake-haiti-debris.
[23] Ben Fox, "Ex-US official sues contractor in Haiti for fees," Associated Press, December 31, 2010.
[24] Mark Weisbrot, "Haiti and the international aid scam," The Guardian, April 22, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/22/haiti-aid.
[25] Project on Government Oversight, http://www.contractormisconduct.org/
[26] Matt Kelley, "Canceled Iraq contracts cost U.S. $600 million," USA Today, November, 17, 2008.
[27]
Center for Economic and Policy Research, "Impatient to Profit from
Disaster," October 14, 2010,
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/relief-and-reconstruction-watch/impatient-to-profit-from-disaster
[28] Keith Schneider, "Company Accused of Bilking U.S. on Waste Sites," New York Times, March 20,1992.
[29] Top 400 Contractors Sourcebook cited on http://newsroom.ch2mhill.com/pr/ch2m/industry-rankings.aspx.
Statement of Mr. Fred M. Brune, President, Government Facilities and
Infrastructure Business Group, CH2M Hill Constructors, Inc. before the
Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, July 26,
2010,
www.wartimecontracting.gov/.../hearing2010-07-26_testimony_Brune_(CH2M%20Hill).pdf.
[30] Kevin Bogardus, "Haiti's recovery aided by U.S. lobbyists," The Hill, October 11, 2010. http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/123565-haitis-recovery-aided-by-lobbyists
[31] CH2M Hill Expenditures, Center for Responsive Politics, http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2010&cmte=C00143305
[32] "Haiti Earthquake Report," Federal Procurement Data System, data updated as of 9/15/2011, https://www.fpds.gov/downloads/top_requests/Haiti_Earthquake_Report.xls. |
