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The
following is an open letter from Robert
Dietrich, the vice-president of Abaka Bay Resort
S.A., one of the two main hotels on Ile à Vache,
just off the southern city of Aux Cayes.
April 2, 2014
Dear Sirs,
Both of you know me and
that I am a social worker and the principal
investor in the Abaka Bay Resort S.A.. I have
met with both of you and presented to you the
blueprints for what you and Haiti’s Tourism
Ministry now call the Ile à Vache project.
I first visited
Ile à Vache in December 2001 for my first
wedding anniversary with my ex-wife Melissa
Dietrich and her parents, Fernand Sajous
(Georges Sajousse) and his wife Dinah Sajous.
Smitten by the beauty of the beach at Andes
Defur, I decided to partner with my wife and
in-laws in beginning the long process of buying
land and establishing Abaka Bay Resort, in which
the four of us each have a 25% stake.
I drew on my
life savings and even my children’s college fund
to furnish most of the capital needed to
establish Abaka Bay and then to draw up a master
plan for touristic development of Ile à Vache.
To make a long story short, after you were
elected President, Mr. Martelly, you had your
lawyer, Gary Lissade, collude with my
father-in-law, Fernand Sajous, in an attempt to
first buy me out and then force me out of Abaka
Bay Resort. Having used your dubiously won
elected power to horn in on our Ile à Vache
hotel, you are now promoting the island’s
development as a project to benefit its
residents and Haiti, when in fact you are simply
working to enrich yourself.
This
underhanded way in which you have dealt with a
well-intentioned international investor like
myself belies the slogan of your regime: “Haiti
is open for business.” Who could possibly
believe that now?
I am appalled
at the way you are today treating my former
neighbors, the inhabitants of Ile à Vache. My
vision had been to attract tourism and investors
to the island, but only in complete
transparency, cooperation, fair dealing, and
respect for the island’s residents. Instead, you
and your officials are lying to the island’s
people, expropriating them from their land,
unilaterally bulldozing their forest, land, and
homes, and then terrorizing and brutalizing them
with heavily-armed militarized police when they
protest. I had seen the Ile à Vache project as a
way to give back to Haiti, not to take from her
yet again.
Mr. President
and Mr. Prime Minister, as you both know, I am a
Christian and the Bible says in Proverbs
3:27-28/27: “Do not withhold good from those
who deserve it, when it is in your power to act.”
Those were the words that compelled me to invest
in Haiti and her people. But today, you have
perverted this mission, turning it into merely a
profit-driven enterprise to benefit you and your
associates.
I urge you to
step back, respect the wishes of the people of
Ile à Vache, and not attempt to force your
vision of “development” down their throats.
Sincerely,
Robert Dietrich
Vice President, Abaka
Bay Resort S.A.
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