Troubles in Haiti
Things are going to hell quickly in Haiti -
SFGate has this article:
bq. U.S. Marines escorted foreigners trying to flee Haiti's capital Wednesday as looting broke out and opposition leaders urged a "timely and orderly" departure of beleaguered President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
bq. President Bush warned that the U.S. Coast Guard would turn back any Haitian refugees trying to reach American shores. He said Washington still hoped for a political solution and was discussing a strong security presence in Haiti with the international community.
bq. Opposition leaders rejected a U.S.-backed peace plan for Haiti that would have Aristide remain as president but share power with political rivals.
bq. "It is absolutely necessary for the international community to accompany the country in its quest for a mechanism that will allow for a timely and orderly departure of Jean-Bertrand Aristide," the Democratic Platform coalition said in a statement.
I had blogged about it
here earlier - this is Aristide's policies coming home to roost. As I said in the earlier entry, Haiti and the Dominicain Republic share roughly equal parts of the island of Hispaniola. The DRs economy is good, their infant mortality rate is one-third of Haiti's, their Gross Domestic Product is growing at 4.1% whereas Haiti's is shrinking at -0.9%.
Want to let your country and your people slide down the tubes while you live in style? Fine, just remember that payback is a bitch...
Posted by DaveH at February 25, 2004 11:08 AM