LES CAYES, Haiti — Hundreds of Haitian earthquake victims queued desperately over the past week for hot meals delivered to a sweltering makeshift camp, fighting over — and scooping up from the muddy ground — rice and chicken spilled from plastic food containers. came.
The scarce containers bore a printed message: “Thanks to Senator Franky Exius.”
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14 that rocked southern Haiti, killing 2,200, struck a country already in crisis, with few legitimately elected officials and a crippled, unpopular and underfunded interim administration. .
In the absence of a concerted effort by the state, prominent Haitian politicians have tried to fill the gap by flying their private jets to the injured, delivering medical supplies and food and even handing out cash.
With the general election on the horizon, their personal initiatives have taken on political undertones, and the epicenter has effectively become a campaign launch pad for some of Haiti’s presidential and congressional candidates.
In the capital, Port-au-Prince, politicians’ efforts have raised difficult questions about the thin line between providing urgently needed aid and cynically exploiting suffering.
“The disaster area has become a field for political exercises,” said Fritz Jean, a public policy expert in Port-au-Prince. “If you look at the help they’re giving, it’s a horrific political campaign.”
Politicians here have a track record of exploiting natural disasters for personal gain. After Hurricane Matthew’s landfall in Haiti coincided with the 2016 presidential campaign, candidates flooded the area with donated water bottles and boxes of matches covered with their faces.
Jovenel Moïse, who served as president until his assassination at his home last month, confirmed his campaign manager by delivering a shipment of rice to hurricane survivors shortly before the vote. The sacks of rice bore his party’s slogans, angering community leaders.
Mr. Moise’s death plunged Haiti into a power vacuum, leaving it without a president, a functioning parliament or a supreme court. Although a general election is officially scheduled for Nov. 7, the interim Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, says the country must first address ubiquitous gang violence and appoint a new electoral council.
Since the murder of Mr. Moïse have competed for power among members of the Haitian elite, visited Washington and interviewed and hired American lobbyists in actions widely seen as explorations of election bidding.
Political office has traditionally been the primary avenue for personal advancement in Haiti, which has a small and weak economy, entrenched corruption and receives large amounts of international aid. The nation of 11 million people has about 200 political parties.
As they have done in the past, politicians providing aid to disaster victims this summer have formulated their aid donations in humanitarian terms.
“People in the camps need to eat, and I wanted to support that opportunity,” said Mr Exius, the former senator, whose name was listed on containers of donated food in Les Cayes.
Mr Exius said he had only donated money to a local restaurant to provide free meals and hadn’t known his name would be on the boxes. He said it was later removed.
Some politicians who provide aid have long-standing ties to affected communities, making their offer seem less opportunistic.
Hervé Fourcand, a former senator living in Haiti’s southern peninsula, used his propeller plane to evacuate the wounded to the capital. Former senators Francenet Dénius and Dieupie Chérubin brought bags of rice and spaghetti to the hard-hit department of Nippes, which they represented in parliament until last year.
“You could link this to politics,” said Mr. Dénius, a native of Nippes who said he would not seek another term. “If you can do something for the people now, they can see that you can meet their demands, and it might help you in elections.”
The aid from former elected officials stands in stark contrast to the largely fruitless aid efforts the Haitian government has launched so far. Mr Henry, the Prime Minister, has visited the affected area twice and sent his ministers to survey the remote communities, but they have offered little more than reassurance and talk of reconstruction.
The Assassination of the President of Haiti
However, private donations are not unlimited, and at times it just seemed to fuel people’s despair. Jean, the government policy expert, said charitable gestures by politicians, some of whom are accused of corruption, are not a substitute for official relief.
On Thursday, hundreds of Haitians stormed the convoy of former President Michel Martelly as he toured hospitals in Les Cayes, shouting, “Here’s our president!” and beg for help.
Mr Martelly, one of Haiti’s most powerful politicians, is widely believed to be preparing a new candidacy for president.
At the end of each hospital visit, Mr. Martelly’s bodyguard handed out a few orange envelopes of money to the crowd, in one case causing a violent scuffle for the bills.
A man desperately grabbed an envelope while a dozen others hung from it and tried to tear it from his hands. Another man picked up a large rock and leapt into the fray, frantically throwing his makeshift weapon into the crowd as a woman nearby shouted, “Kill him, kill him!”
Back at the general hospital in Les Cayes, Vercia Edmond, a street vendor, stood anxiously at the bedside of her 15-year-old son, Robenson Perjuste. His leg was amputated in the thigh after being hit by debris in their ruined home.
The eldest daughter of Mrs. Edmond, the family’s main breadwinner, was in another ward with a spinal cord injury.
Mrs. Edmond said she had tried to tell Mr. Martelly about her predicament, but his bodyguards had pushed her away. She is nevertheless pinning her hopes on him — because at least he was visiting, she said.
“I was so happy when he came,” she said. “I wanted to tell President Martelly that the child is here, that I have nothing, that our booth has been ransacked.”
“Now I don’t know what to do,” said Mrs. Edmond. “I feel ignored.”
Harold Isaac and Andre Paultre reported.
