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by Thomas Péralte
 As
was customary during the Duvalier years, fierce power struggles
between the strong-men (and women) in the Martelly regime have
begun.
In a cabinet shuffle announced
on August 6, Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe has eliminated his
rival Thierry Mayard-Paul as Interior Minister.
Mayard-Paul represented the
more "makout" wing of the neo-Duvalierist regime, as opposed the
more "bourgeois" sector, whose leader is Lamothe. [“Makout” is a
reference to the Tontons Macoutes, the armed force which
defended Duvalierist power.]
The fight recalls the endless
conflicts between "dinosaurs" and "technocrats" throughout the
15-year regime of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier (1971-1986).
We can expect more of these
reshuffles because the Martelly regime is a photocopy of the "macouto-bourgeois"
regime of Baby Doc, which brought together in one coalition the
two rival currents of the Haitian ruling class: the feudal
grandons, or big landowners, and the comprador bourgeoisie.
In fact, the elimination of
Mayard-Paul is a sign that the Haitian government under
Lamothe’s aegis is moving closer to Washington, which is not too
comfortable with the Duvalierists because of their
uncontrollable unpredictability and their insatiable taste for
corruption.
Sources in the Parliament have
told us that Mayard-Paul is a close ally of Sofia Martelly, the
First Lady strong-woman of the sector most willing to plunder
the public coffers for nebulous and demagogic projects often
criticized by Senator Moïse Jean-Charles, among others .
In this sense, the elimination
of Mayard-Paul may be a harbinger of conflicts between Lamothe
and Martelly in the not too distant future.
In the Cabinet reshuffle, two
other ministers lost their posts: Reginald Paul, former Minister
of Education and Vocational Training, and Joseph Ronald
Toussaint, former Environment Minister.
Other changes were made: Josefa
Gauthier Raymond was replaced at the Ministry of Planning and
External Cooperation by Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe. Now she
heads the Social Affairs Ministry. The former Social Affairs
Minister, Ronsard St. Cyr, was transferred to the Ministry of
Interior and Local Authorities. The Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs Pierre Richard Casimir became Minister of that
ministry, replacing Lamothe. In this first reshuffling of
Laurent Lamothe’s cabinet, most ministers retained their posts.
As usual, the government
announced that the Prime Minister made the reshuffling with the
approval of the Head of State.
Here is the new cabinet’s
composition:
● Prime Minister and Minister of Planning
and External Cooperation, Laurent Lamothe
● Minister of Interior and Territorial
Communities, Ronsard St-Cyr
● Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship,
Pierre Richard Casimir
● Minister of Public Health and Population,
Dr. William Florence Duperval
● Minister of National Education and
Vocational Training, Vanneur Pierre
● Minister of Works, Transport, Energy and
Communications, Jacques Rousseau
● Minister of Tourism, Stephanie Balmir
Villedrouin
● Minister of Trade and Industry, Wilson
Laleau
● Minister for Women and women's rights,
Yanick Mézile
● Environment Minister, Jean Vilmond
Hilaire
● Minister of Youth, Sports and Civic
Action, Jean Roosevelt René
● Minister of Haitians Living Abroad,
Daniel Supplice
● Minister responsible for relations with
Parliament, Ralph Théano
● Minister of National Defense, Rodolfe
Joazile
● Minister of Justice and Public Security,
Jean Renel Sanon, Esquire
● Minister of Economy and Finance, Marie-Carmelle
Jean Marie
● Minister of Communication and
Information, Ady Jean Gardy
● Minister of Culture, Mario Dupuy
● Minister of Agriculture, Natural
Resources and Rural Development, agronomist Thomas Jacques
● Minister of Social Affairs and Labor,
Josefa Gauthier
● Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister
responsible for energy security, René Jean Jumeau.
● Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister
in charge of human rights and the fight against corruption and
extreme poverty, Rose-Anne Auguste.
●
Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister responsible for the
promotion of the peasantry, Marie Mimose Félix. |
