#5236: Re: #5197: How many banks for the poor does Haiti have? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dave Fonda <fonphoto@snip.net>

Lois;

There are countless ¹banks¹ doing micro-lending in Haiti.  I have no idea what the actual number is, but it is surely in the hundreds.  They range from very small operations lending to single communities where they are already working on other projects and have seen the need for mirco-lending, to larger regional operations and I believe I¹d even heard that one of Haiti¹s commercial banks was looking into micro-lending, though off-hand I don¹t remember which.

Fonkoze is the largest, though, and the only one doing business through-out the country.

As far as the ¹rival banks¹ are concerned, I don¹t think that the report was implying that another micro-credit institution was behind the attack, but rather one of the commercial banks.  Even that scenario seems pretty unlikely to me.  The call to close down the bank was very vague, very brief, and has not been repeated.  It also seems to have been issued after Amos Jeanot had already been killed.  My (semi-informed) guess is that it was most likely issued to divert attention.

Two suspects have recently been arrested and the vehicle they used was recovered (it was stolen), so hopefully there should be more known soon.  Commendations to the Haitian Police for their efforts.

It¹d be nice to think that it was a simple robbery and nothing more.

R E S P E C T;


     Dave Fonda

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