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#199: haiti article (fwd)
Haiti: A Case of What Not
to Do in Yugoslavia?
TIME Notebook: Five years after U.S.
restored democracy, chaos rules again
Western planners contemplating the
reconstruction of Kosovo might want to look at
Haiti. In 1994 Haitians were dancing in the streets
after U.S. troops restored democracy. Not
anymore. Political squabbling has led to
government paralysis, and Haiti's President Rene
Preval suspended Parliament in January and rules
by decree. Although donor countries pledged more
than $1 billion in aid, the latest U.N. report notes
that $570 million still hasn't been handed over
because Haiti lacks the ministerial staff to draft
programs for using the money. The report points
out that 4 percent of Haiti's population still owns
66 percent of the country's resources, and annual
income averages $250 per person, compared with
$3,320 for the rest of the Caribbean and Latin
America. Drug traffickers have also targeted Haiti.
DEA officials believe as much as 15 percent of the
cocaine in the U.S. may be coming through it
capital, Port-au-Prince. There is growing
speculation that former president Jean-Bertrand
Aristide could profit from the chaos: A total
collapse may encourage his supporters to bring
him back to power.
-- TIME CORRESPONDENT WILLIAM DOWELL
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