The Washington Post has some good reporting on the Clinton Foundation's extensive activity in the impoverished country of Haiti. These efforts, it turns out, have been met with considerable skepticism by locals:
[T]he Clintons are facing a growing backlash that too little has been accomplished in the past five years and that some of the most high-profile projects they have backed—including a just-opened Marriott, another luxury hotel and the industrial park—have helped foreign investors and Haiti’s wealthy elites more than its poor.
"Bill Clinton is a good guy and well-intentioned, but the people here don’t think so—they think he’s here making money," said Leslie Voltaire, a former government official who worked with Clinton on post-earthquake reconstruction. "There is a lot of resentment about Clinton here. People have not seen results. … They say that Clinton used Haiti."
In January, Haitian expatriates picketed the Clinton Foundation’s New York headquarters, demanding to know why more progress has not been made with the billions in international aid pledged after the quake.
It’s not hard to see why this is the case. Bill Clinton, speaking at the grand opening of the $45 million Marriott hotel, praised the project for giving Haitians "the chance to show the real Haiti to the world that will come to this hotel." Right. Because what better way to experience the "real Haiti" than from the La Sirene Bar and Restaurant at luxury hotel financed by one of the most powerful political couples in the Western hemisphere?
Haiti, in many ways, functions as a sort of Clintopia. Cuba won’t have its hipster charm and poverty chic motif much longer, thanks to capitalism. Fortunately, there’s Haiti, where wealthy plutocrats can experience an authentic voodoo ceremony, just as the Clinton did shortly after their wedding in 1975. (The trip was a gift from a rich friend, Dave Edwards, who has since helped Bill Clinton secure more than $20 million in funding from the Saudi government for a Middle East studies program at the University of Arkansas.)
It’s an ideal place for moneyed elites to visit for photo-ops and investment opportunities, but without having to experience the "real Haiti." It’s a disaster area that provides convenient cover for foreign governments to donate money to a charitable foundation tied to a sitting Secretary of State, in violation of administration rules. And, most importantly, it looks good on a presidential resume. Who cares if the actual residents of Haiti don’t appreciate all the good the Clintons have done for them? Think of all the good Haiti has done for the Clintons and their associates.
People like Tony Rodham, for example. Hillary’s brother sits on the board of VCS Mining, a Delaware-based company operating a controversial gold mine in Haiti. Rodham met VCS president and CEO (and Democratic donor) Angelo Viard at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, but insists that his involvement with the company, which includes a stock options compensation package, is a giant coincidence. The Washington Post reports [emphasis added]:
Asked whether he attends CGI meetings to explore personal business opportunities, Rodham responded, "No, I go to see old friends. But you never know what can happen."
All sides deny that the Clintons had any role in Rodham’s appointment to the VCS advisory board. Rodham said he has not been involved in any other deals through connections made at CGI. He said that he has never spoken to his sister or her husband about the Haiti project and that he does not think VCS chief executive and president Angelo Viard, a Democratic donor, approached him because of his family ties. Rodham declined to say who introduced him to Viard; Viard said he could not remember.
"I’m a very accomplished person in my own right," Rodham said. He said his work with the company is to try to find investors, which he said has been challenging because of a lack of interest in Haiti.
Right. And Clinton son-in-law Marc Mezvinsky is a very accomplished hedge fund manager.
Meanwhile, actual Haitians have expressed concerns about the gold mine’s environmental impact, and worry that, like other Clinton-backed projects, it will only benefit foreign investors.
Welcome to Clintopia.