An Earthquake Presents Opportunity and "Hard Choices"
In late November 2011. Port-au-Prince was still crawling out from beneath the rubble of the January 2010 earthquake that claimed up to 350,000 lives. No one will ever know the final count of the mass graves filled by front-end loaders. While most of the country was spared the physical devastation of the tectonic event, no part of Haiti escaped the creeping cholera epidemic courtesy of the Nepalese contingent of the United Nations based near Mirebalais on the Artibonite River. (It took the U.N. six years to admit culpability click here) Economic growth in 2010 was non-existent, hundreds of thousands were still living in dilapidated tent encampments, and the Haitian people had a President installed by the Organization of American States with the complicity of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Clinton would later write that although the official 2010-11 Haiti Presidential vote tally was at odds with results obtained by the Organization of American States (OAS), her goal was to reach a "peaceful resolution." She did not admit that her "resolution" would involve over-turning the official results. Clinton termed this Machiavellian move, "democracy in action" in her book Hard Choices. In the subsequent run-off using the OAS results, a "celebrated musician," using Clinton's words, would become the next President of Haiti. This was Clinton's premise of "good governance," and Michel Martelly would embody U.S. mastery of the disaster, becoming the fulcrum for a new axis of foreign intervention and capitalism. The United States had officially declared that fixing elections was "Democracy in action."
As Clinton's Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills said in email CO5779428 to Haiti Ambassador Kenneth Merton and others, "You do great elections. And make us all look good. I am so very grateful for all you have done. Dinner on me in Haiti next trip. [And we can discuss how the counting is going! Just kidding. Kind of (smiley emoticon)]"
All Mills had to do was change the numbers on a piece of paper and hand it back to the election commissioner. The puppet Martelly was now tethered to U.S. State Department strings. At best an inexperienced leader and at worst a cross-dressing thug who installed criminals as part of his inner circle, Martelly owed his rise from carnival singer to President of the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere to the Clintons. Martelly's narcissistic and pornographic performances are too blue to write about, but the New Yorker presents the evidence click here of a disturbed personality, for those who can handle the unpleasant descriptions.
Guy Phillipe, AKA "piti-piti", Martelly's right hand man, is still wanted by the DEA for alleged Conspiracy to Import Cocaine, Conspiracy to Launder Monetary Instruments, and Engaging in Monetary Transactions in Property Derived from Specified Unlawful Activity.
The new President of Haiti shouted the promise to the world. "Haiti is open for business," Martelly said, while the lies festered in the swamp of non-existent economic growth--a fetid concoction of development in an agricultural region far from the devastation of Port-au-Prince. By 2013, President Martelly had yet to allow Parliamentary elections, leaving one-third of the Haitian Senate vacant. Martelly was effectively ruling by fiat, with elections two years overdue.
Get Your Gold Mine Permit Here
It had been 50 years since any gold mining permits had been issued in Haiti, but President Martelly awarded one of two to Tony Rodham's VCS in December 2012 for the Morne Bossa project. Officially discovered in 1978 by United Nations, the mine has significant quantities of gold deposits. According to the VCS Memorandum, in November 2011, "the Colorado geotechnical firm and mineralogical assessor, Data Technology Services, published an independent geological survey (NI 43-101), which showed Morne Bossa had measured gold resources of 437,771 ounces (on the 13 hectares assessed). Including 171,746 ounces within its shallow oxide cap, and 266,025 ounces in its sulfide mineral belt. This represented less than 1% of the Morne Bossa 2,500 hectare concession." (Gold is currently listed at $1340.60 per ounce)
The promise to the Haitian people was an enormous lie. VCS CEO Angelo Viard crowed click here, "The Government's commitment to responsible development of the Country's vast natural resource base will be a major contributor to economic development, employment and the welfare of the Haitian people." Time would prove the promise to be a sham even before Tony Rodham was forced to resign from the VCS Advisory Board because of revelations in his sister's emails.
Timing is everything, especially when it involves Tony Rodham's connections with VCS CEO Angelo Viard. According to a piece in the Daily Caller, Viard said he paid a $20,000 "membership fee" to join the Clinton Global Initiative, AKA the Clinton Foundation, to gain access to marketing opportunities. The appointment of Rodham to the VCS Board of Directors was, of course, "coincidence."
But there remains that sticky statement in the 2014 VCS Memorandum: "Mr. Rodham currently serves on VCS's Advisory Committee, providing the company with strategic insight and exposure to key high-level business and government relationships."
There was no higher level of business and government relationships in Haiti than the "coincidence" of Tony Rodham as the brother-in-law of the Haiti Special Envoy and President of the Interim Haiti Development Commission, Bill Clinton. Let's review. The VCS mining permit was issued two years after the earthquake and shortly after Hillary Clinton and Cheryl Mills conveniently rigged the election. The exploration permit is valid for five (5) years from the date of issuance and renewable for up to 25 years.
In addition, in 2014 the Haitian government proposed new mining policies for corporations seeking mining permits to launch operations in Haiti. New regulations were designed to meet international standards for environmentally friendly mining. Gold mining presents a severe pollution hazard to rivers and streams. The Morne Bossa property is not subject to the new mining requirements, because their permit was granted prior to the passage of the new mining policy. This provides VCS a substantial advantage over new mining companies seeking to launch operations in Haiti. Permits do not guarantee enforcement or regulations. The white paper "Human Rights and Environmental Risks of Gold Mining in Haiti," outlines many opportunities for abuse and mismanagement.
Although the Mining Decree contains several provisions concerning protection of the environment and community resources that may be affected by mining, those provisions are neither stringent nor specific enough to prevent or mitigate the risks posed by modern mining, particularly in the absence of robust government enforcement.
Of course, denials abound that Hillary or Bill Clinton greased the wheels for Tony Rodham's appointment to the VCS advisory board. In a Washington Post article, Rodhan said he did "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."
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