PBS FILM EXPLORES THE LAWLESS CHAOS OF HAITI
(Tulsa World) - By Rita Sherrow
One year after a devastating earthquake struck a perpetually crippled Haiti, the future of the country still hangs in the balance.
Adding to the destruction and chaos is a nightmare that is keeping the Caribbean nation politically unstable and unable to accept world aid being offered - the escape of 4,500 prisoners from the damaged National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince on the night of Jan. 12, 2010.
"Frontline: Battle for Haiti" examines the uphill battle being waged by a small group of police and U.N. peacekeepers trying to recapture some of the country's worst criminals and restore order to daily life for Haitians already ravaged by the natural disaster and its aftermath.
An all-out military mission three years ago succeeded in imprisoning most of the criminals, but now the escapees are using murder, rape, kidnapping and robbery to control many of the slums and tent cities where most Haitians live.
In the film, "Frontline" producer and freelance filmmaker/writer Dan Reed follows the beleaguered police units, interviews some of the gangsters and looks at the daily lives of those being terrorized. It debuts Tuesday.
It's a tough film to watch (dead bodies, a nearly naked man, distraught victims). And one tough to shoot, said Reed in a recent phone interview with the Tulsa World.
The rule of law doesn't exist in post-earthquake Haiti, he said. One trip to a remote area for an interview was deemed too dangerous for the film crew.
"A tremendous amount of money has been pledged but a large amount has not arrived," said Reed, who also produced the award-winning HBO documentary "Terror in Mumbai" and the Peabody Award-winning "The Valley" about both sides of the war in Kosovo.
Haiti doesn't have a functioning state government. There is no local entity to turn to for help.
"It's very difficult for the people who want to help to find a way to get stuff done because so much is broken and doesn't work. That is why you have had this republic of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) where aid money is funneled through the charities, and they are all doing their own thing. There is no vision, no plan and a lot of the money gets frittered away piecemeal, which will keep happening until it becomes a functioning state with a rule of law."
Enforcing what law there is is a small force led by Police Chief Mario Andresol, a man who has survived two assassination attempts and who, three years ago, helped lead a military onslaught against the criminals with the aid of U.N. peacekeepers to establish peace.
"It's chaos right now," he says in the film. "There's a state of fear because the escapees are robbing banks, murdering, kidnapping."
And, most of that chaos is in the relocation tent camps.
"The escaped prisoners came to my tent," says Cassandre St. Vil, a young woman who lost her father and her home in the earthquake. "The gangsters beat my mother, my grandmother and my little brother and then all four of them raped me ... My dream was to finish my (accounting) studies and get a job. My life is shattered."
One 19-year-old rape victim said, "The police said: 'When you catch the gangster who raped you call us.' "
"Battle for Haiti" also exposes the situation of escapees who may have only stolen milk but were placed in a standing-room-only cell with murderers. With no working justice system and no record-keeping, anyone without money can wait five years or more for trial. Those gangsters with money bribe corrupt judges as a way out of prison. Some sob when questioned by police because they are afraid of returning to the still damaged but reopened prison.
The police force is also said to have its own corruption, but there is no change in sight. This month's elections have been postponed.
"Honest people don't go into politics in Haiti," says Andresol in the film. "That's our great tragedy."
He is worried that "corrupt politicians are in league with the resurgent gangs." And then there is the problem of paying for more police, government services, etc.
"The two-thirds of the operating budget of the government before the earthquake consisted of foreign aid," said Reed. "Since the earthquake, no one has any income.
"And without a declared election, no one can make a move. That is Haiti's condition of being in permanent limbo. You can't have a coup with the 12,000 U.N. peacekeepers there ... And the U.N. cannot do tough love, so they can only assist the 57 policemen.
"A lot of Haitians are terribly proud and they resent outsiders, but, at the same time, everyone I spoke to would welcome a firm hand and somebody to come in and (establish) order in Haiti to allow people a breathing space to start putting their lives back together."
FRONTLINE: BATTLE FOR HAITIWhen: 8 p.m. Tuesday
Where: PBS, channel 11
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