The Socialist Workers campaign demands the U.S. government send immediate, massive aid with no strings attached to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and other nations in the Caribbean where Hurricane Georges wreaked devastation on the lives of millions of human beings.
We also demand cancellation of the foreign debt of all the countries in the region, and the end of Washington's criminal economic embargo against Cuba.
In face of catastrophic losses estimated at $3 billion, Washington's miserly relief "aid" to the Dominican people - $500,000 so far, perhaps a few million dollars later -is a slap in the face. It has provided even less to Haiti.
Meanwhile, the billionaire coupon-clippers in the United States have not budged from their insistence that the Dominican Republic keep making the interest payments on a $3.5 billion foreign debt. To keep this blood money flowing into their coffers, the imperialist bankers demand that governments in oppressed countries like the Dominican Republic and Haiti impose brutal economic austerity measures to squeeze more out of workers and peasants. The Dominican government has pleaded for a rescheduling of debt payments to ease the staggering burden it faces right now.
Hurricane Georges was a natural phenomenon, but its disastrous consequences were a result of social conditions caused by capitalism.
Imperialist plunder has fostered underdevelopment in semicolonial and colonial nations. Millions of acres of farm and forest land are exploited by companies from imperialist countries to make a quick profit. Their "development" projects have ruined the natural environment of these nations while driving peasants off the land. Decades of deforestation in Haiti, for example, have made the country vulnerable to flooding and landslides, causing massive homelessness and the spread of disease, with a looming threat of epidemics today.
Poor roads and communications, an inadequate health-care system, shoddy housing - all these conditions, which multiplied the human toll of the disaster, were caused not by the hurricane but by a criminal system of exploitation - imperialism. And the capitalist governments in these countries bow to the profit prerogatives of their imperial masters, who couldn't care less about working people.
Not all areas were affected equally. In rich neighborhoods with well-built and protected structures, housing damage was less. But impoverished rural areas were devastated. In the Dominican Republic, entire towns vanished, swallowed up by overflowing rivers.
Over the coming months, these catastrophic social conditions for working people will be magnified by the capitalist depression that is wracking the world. Throughout the past year, these brutal conditions have sparked widespread protests by working people in the Dominican Republic.
Likewise, the social devastation of Puerto Rico graphically highlights the colonial status of that Caribbean nation - down to the most degrading details, such as the U.S. relief authorities who staffed telephones without enough Spanish- speaking operators!
In contrast to Washington's arrogance and stinginess, the revolutionary government of Cuba has issued a call for international aid, especially to the Dominican Republic, and is sending some material aid of its own, despite the fact that Cuba also suffered serious damages from the hurricane.
One U.S. capitalist politician, Congressman Robert Menéndez, had the gall to criticize the Cuban government for its "incredible" stance of sending assistance to other nations instead of keeping it for its own country. The U.S. rulers are horrified by the shining example of selfless solidarity demonstrated by the Cuban people and their revolutionary government, which exposes Washington for what it is - an enforcer of exploitation and the dog-eat-dog values of capitalism.
Although Hurricane Georges hit the island of Cuba, the workers and farmers government there prepared the population for the natural disaster, minimizing its impact. Working people organized in a calm, disciplined way to take preventive measures, and they had full access to health care and other needed resources. That's the difference a socialist revolution can make.
Working people should demand:
Massive unconditional U.S. aid to the Caribbean!
Cancel the Third World debt!
End the U.S. embargo against Cuba!