A documentary, which calls into question the relief efforts to assist the People of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, has Sean Penn likening its director to a “Nazi.”
Haitian-born director Raoul Peck’s documentary film, titled Fatal Assistance, highlights the failure of international relief efforts to reach Haiti, and claims only a fraction of the $9 billion pledged by international foundations ever reached the devastated country.
The film also claims that 350,000 Haitians still live in camps, and current aid policies and practices in Haiti must be halted immediately.
Penn, who is CEO of J/P Haitian Relief Organization and ambassador at large to Haiti, has a few critical words for the film and its director:
“His simplification of criticism echoes strategies once used by tyrants and Nazis, and its only result can be that which is injurious to the extraordinary people of Haiti. Self-serving critics like Peck are Haiti’s greatest enemy,” the JPHRO chair said.
“Peck is confusing the funds committed by international donors (foreign governments) in 2010 with the tangible and provable monies raised by JPHRO and others spent to extraordinary effect,” Penn said in a statement to Page Six’s Richard Johnson.