110 RüdigerKunow
banning HIV-positive people from immigration to the United States. In
the wake of that ban, about 12,000 migrants from Haiti^64 were
interceptedandkeptin custodyontheGuantánamo military baseforan
extended period of time. There, all Haitians in custody were tested for
theHI-virus,and thosetestingpositivewere keptin aspecialsectionof
thecamp.
This is still not the whole story. After the medical community had
determined that blood contaminated with the virus was instrumental in
spreading it, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) early in
1990 put a ban in place, once again involving Haitians, this time those
already living in the United States, who were no longer allowed to
donate blood. They were seen as constituting a "geographical risk"
(Markel,Germs163) on the grounds that there was a high incidence of
HIV-AIDS on the island. While the medical arguments seemed at that
time to be fully plausible, if not actually called for, it has cultural
repercussions the experts had not taken into consideration. What the
FDA did not anticipate (and could not have known) was that its action
would have strong cultural resonances in the public domain (and not
only among Haitians) which would be difficult to control. In Haitian
culture, suggesting that someone has "san sal" (dirty blood) constitutes
one of the most devastating allegations concerning a person's moral
standing. Consequently, Haitians mounted vigorous and sometimes
violent protests against the FDA decision which had to be lifted.
Successful resistance against the perceived cultural discrimination by
the FDA would in retrospect be "a defining moment" (Sanon qtd. in
Markel,Germs165) for the formation of a Haitian community in the
U.S.anditspoliticalself-assertion.
ThePhilippinesandtheSpecterof"ColonialBurnout''
In the wake of the Spanish-American War of 1899, not only Cuba
but also the Philippine archipelago had come under U.S.-American
control, and American colonial authorities "had eagerly taken up the
burden of cleansing their newly acquired part of the Orient, attempting
(^64) Haitians were grouped in the infamous "4-H Club," together with
homosexuals,hemophiliacsandheroinaddicts(Markel161).