Ayiti Pap Mouri. Haiti will not die, not if Brazil has anything to do with it.

On Tuesday, May 11, 2010, Brazil became the very first country to contribute to the Haiti Reconstruction Fund. US$55 million were signed to the fund by Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Brazil's Secretary General of the Ministry of External Relations at a ceremony in Washington D.C.

"I am delighted that Brazil is the first county to contribute to the Haiti Reconstruction Fund," said Robert B. Zoellick, president of World Bank Group, the fund's fiscal agent and administrator. "Many promises have been made in support of Haiti's reconstruction. Turning these into reality for the Haitian people is urgent. Haiti and the international community will also benefit from Brazil's vast development experience in the planning and implementation of reconstruction."

Brazil is 3,475 miles from Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere which was struck by a devastating earthquake on January 12. Brazil is the largest country in South America and has a per capita GDP of US$1.573 trillion.

Brazil has a long-standing history of friendship with Haiti and has provided critical support in peace-keeping and security efforts over the past years, said Zoellick.

Set up by the government of Haiti in addition to bilateral and multilateral donors, this fund will provide financing for reconstruction investments, budget support and capacity building.

The earthquake claimed the lives of 200,000 people and destroyed many of the governmental buildings.

"We were shocked and saddened by the earthquake in Haiti. However, the resilience of the Haitian people, reflected in the warm colors of Haitian paintings, is greater that this tragedy,"said de Aguiar Patriota.

Haitian officials are pleased about this partnership between their country and the South American nation which bears so much similarity to their own.

After Portugal had succeeded in establishing sugar plantations in northern Brazil circa 1545, roughly a century later, the country would become the the largest single destination for enslaved Africans. And sugar would be the reason that roughly 84 percent of these Africans were shipped to the New World. Today, Brazil has the largest black population outside of Africa.

Then, starting in the 1730s, French engineers constructed complex irrigation systems to increase sugarcane production and Haiti, at that time the French colony Saint-Domingue, became the main supplier of the world's sugar.

As a result of the cruel treatment they received, slave revolts were staged by the Quilombo dos Palmares most famous for dance-fighting or capoeira in Brazil and by Toussaint L'Ouverture in Haiti. The Haitian revolution in 1791 was the only slave uprising ever to be fully successful in a permanent way, culminating in the independent black republic of Haiti.

"In the name of the Haitian government and the people of Haiti, I would like to thank my former colleague, Ambassador Antonio Patriota, the government and the people of Brazil who have been there for us since 2004 when MINUSTAH arrived in Haiti," said Raymond Joseph, Ambassador of Haiti to the U.S.

MINUSTAH is an acronym of the French translation, (Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti), and is a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti that has been in operation since 2004. The mission's military component is led by the Brazilian Army and the force commander is Brazilian. The current UN mission is authorized until October 15, 2010. The force is composed of 8,940 military personnel and 3,711 police, supported by an international civilian personnel, a local civilian staff and United Nations Volunteers.

"As I said in an article in 2004, Brazil will succeed in Haiti where others have failed, because the Haitians are as much Brazilian as the Brazilians themselves in the soccer field. So, Brazilian soccer diplomacy - and in this case generosity - has won our hearts," said Joseph.

While Brazil is the first donor, at least 14 other countries are expected to chip in to replenish the fund.

Confirmations of intent to date have come from donors such as Canada, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and the United States, while discussions with other potential contributors are underway, noted Haiti country director Yvonne Tsikata.