The nation of Haiti was hit with a devastating earthquake. The governments of Cuba and Venezuela responded within hours with medical brigades, firefighters, fuel and supplies, and there has been massive sympathy, generosity and volunteerism from workers around the world. What a difference compared to the response from the the United States. The U.S. government has pledged assistance in the way of one hundred million dollars – less than is spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in just two days.

There is a manmade element to the catastrophe confronting Haitians. The country doesn’t just happen to be poor; it has been made poor and kept poor. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with the worst infrastructure and a people most vulnerable to disaster and disease, because of the machinations of imperialism. Although the earthquake could not be avoided, the scale of death and destruction clearly could have been avoided.

We have received the following declaration, in both English and Creole, from student groups in Haiti on last month’s elections. The declaration details the difficulties the masses faced in voting and the alliance of the Haitian ruling class with imperialism.

In the face of mass demonstrations against the fraud in Haiti’s elections the Provisional Electoral Council of Haiti has been forced to declare René Préval the winner and the next president of Haiti. The masses have come out onto the streets in celebration, justifiably jubilant and euphoric at their victory. However, these elections have solved none of the problems the Haitian masses face, and the reactionary opposition has not been completely defeated. What is needed now is determination and vigilance against the forces of counter-revolution.

Mass demonstrations have erupted in Haiti over the manipulation of the results of last week's election. René Préval, the front runner, and the choice of the overwhelming majority of the Haitian people, has seen his percentage of the votes fall from as high as 65% to 48%, just under the 50% needed to avoid a run off. The vote tallies are clearly being manipulated and the Haitian people have had enough.

After twelve years of upheavals, war, carnage and betrayals, the revolution that broke out in 1791 in Saint-Domingue finally abolished slavery and brought independence to Haiti. Its successive stages, marked by numerous shocks and setbacks, were largely determined by the ebbs and flow of the revolution in France.