Clinton Looking More Like the Viceroy of Haiti

Posted on September 12, 2011

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Mickey Martelly has appointed Bill Clinton to chair an advisory board on economic development and investment in Haiti (see article below).  If you add this appointment to his position as head of the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission and his service as the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, he has all the poker chips.

One of the more interesting facts about the board is that it will have 32 members and Clinton will be joined by former leaders of Spain, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Bolivia and Colombia, as well as bankers and executives with expertise in energy, cruise line, media and real estate. If you take the worst case scenario, the representatives will likely be:

Jose Maria Aznar of Spain

Oscar Arias of Costa Rica

P. J. Patterson of Jamaica

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada of Bolivia

Alvaro Uribe of Colombia

P. J. Patterson is the only one confirmed so far.  If any or all of the remaining four join the advisory board this again will be another rip-off of the people of Haiti.  Aznar is a fascist; Arias is a double-dealing “peacemaker” who was particularly slimy regarding peace agreements in Nicaragua and Honduras; Sanchez de Lozada, known as “Goni” was the privatization king of Bolivia especially gas fields, also he sent the Bolivian army to shoot protesters where approximately 70 were killed and the people of Bolivia literally road him out of the country; and finally, the one and only Alvaro Uribe — liar, thief, murderer, drug business, shall I stop here?

The first meeting will be September 21 in New York.

Haiti pres, Clinton form board to court investors

Friday, September 09, 2011

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s president yesterday unveiled an advisory board of former leaders, business executives and bankers that he hopes can make this poor Caribbean nation a more business friendly place and attract foreign investment.

President Michel Martelly announced that the panel he has created with former US President Bill Clinton will help redevelop Haiti, whose capital and outlying cities were shattered in last year’s earthquake.

Former US President and UN special envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton, second right, and Haiti’s President Michel Martelly, second left, walk through the gardens of the National Palace, to a news conference in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday September 8, 2011. Martelly announced the creation of the Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Investment to be headed by Clinton. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

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“To build the economy, we need new ideas and new investments,” said Laurent Lamothe, a telecommunications entrepreneur who is a senior adviser to Martelly. He will be co-chairman of the council with Clinton, the United States special envoy to Haiti.

The council will be similar to a reconstruction panel set up in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake to coordinate international aid for rebuilding Haiti.

The new panel will focus on expanding the economy by luring investors to create new businesses. Martelly has said he wants to create 500,000 jobs over the next three years.

Overseas companies have long been leery of investing in Haiti because there is red-tape, confusion over laws, insecurity, and sometimes political instability.

Investors could be further reluctant to do business in Haiti because of an uncertain political environment. Martelly has yet to install a government almost four months after his inauguration, with the first-time politician seeing his first two nominees for prime minister rejected by parliament.

The government announced this week that Martelly’s third nominee for the post is Garry Conille, a longtime development worker for the United Nations who worked as an aide to Clinton in his role as UN envoy.

A report released yesterday by the International Crisis Group took note of Martelly’s announcement at his May inauguration that “Haiti is open for business.”

“But a functioning, professional (police force) is a prerequisite to move the country forward,” the group said in a report on the need for police reform.

The new Presidential Advisory Council on Economic Growth and Investment is a hybrid of sorts — part think tank, part marketing outfit, part consulting firm and full-time liaison between potential investors and the government. It also aims to give Martelly and lawmakers ideas that could make Haiti more attractive to investors.

Clinton will be joined on the 32-member board by former leaders in Spain, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Bolivia and Colombia, as well as bankers and executives with expertise in energy, cruise line, media and real estate.

The board members will also serve as mini-ambassadors, spreading word that Haiti is eager for investment.

“Clinton typically talks about Haiti wherever he goes,” said Edwin Phanord, an adviser to the council. “So we take Clinton and multiply him by 30.”