Transparency

PetroCaribe scandal: Haiti Court Accuses Officials of Mismanaging $2 bln in Aid

  • Posted on: 18 August 2020
  • By: Bryan Schaaf

According to France 24, the Haitian High Court of Auditors released a report slamming the mis-use of $2 billion in aid from Venezuela from 2008-2016.  For a country Haiti's size, this level of funding could have been used for much needed schools, clinics, and infrastructure - in other words, a better future.  Instead it was utterly wasted due to corruption and bad management.  The Haitian political elite is quite upset that U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently met the Haitian President in a hallway without the pomp and circumstance of a normal bilateral meeting.   I understand that anger but until Haiti has a government that is accountable and invests in its own people instead of lining its pockets, it will not be taken seriously in a region where most of its neighbors are making progress.