13500" Karshan: Caught on tape: Haiti's agony (Chicago Tribune) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Caught on tape: Haiti's agony

Published October 31, 2002

The sad spectacle Tuesday of hundreds of Haitian refugees jumping off a boat
and scrambling across a Miami highway was more than an obligatory bit of
video drama for the evening TV news. It was an urgent reminder that
conditions in Haiti not only are abysmal but--incredibly enough--worsening,
and that the fate of that tiny, beleaguered country indeed does affect the
United States.

No one can deny that during the 1990s the U.S. made a good-faith effort to
try to help Haiti establish some semblance of democratic rule--its first
since independence in 1804--so the nation could begin to deal with its
crushing poverty and illiteracy. Dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier's rule ended
in 1986, and after a brief military rule, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was
democratically elected. His government barely survived seven months before
being overthrown by a military junta. The ensuing back-and-forth between
Haiti and the international community, including the loss of economic aid,
culminated with the 1994 American invasion that reinstated Aristide.

U.S. and other foreign aid poured in, along with hope that Haiti's nightmare
would finally end. But soon after, political squabbling resumed and the 2000
elections were tainted with charges of impropriety. International aid, most
of it from the U.S., dried up, except for a trickle going directly to
non-governmental groups.

Monday's spectacle in Miami should partly answer the question: `Who cares
about Haiti?' A steady stream of Haitian boat people--those who survive the
perilous trip--continues to reach the U.S. They are not the human waves that
reached Florida years ago, but a reminder that could happen again.

During the political and economic impasse in the past two years, Haiti also
has become a convenient transshipment point for Colombian narcotics headed
for American streets.

Last month, the Organization of American States approved a resolution to
Haiti's political impasse that should pave the way for a resumption of
international loans and aid. New elections are set for next year. Yet the
money has not started flowing.

Frustrated as the U.S. may be, it cannot afford to walk away from Haiti. The
Drug Enforcement Administration has been helping Haiti's interdiction efforts
and that ought to be expanded. So should efforts to fund specific and
carefully monitored projects--to provide clean drinking water, medical care
and other basics. Aid can go far in a country where half the population is
illiterate and life expectancy is only 50 years. There needs to be a stable
environment that will invite private investment.

Economic and political isolation during the past two years have nudged
Aristide's Famli Lavalas and the opposition Democratic Convergence--a
leaderless political hodgepodge--into a truce. Hardly the dawn of pluralistic
democracy, but about as good as is to be expected from a nation with no
democratic history.

For its part, the U.S. ought to declare a truce with Haiti. For our sake--and
for the sake of Haiti's long-suffering people.