20434: Lamothe: Open letter to Prime Minister Patterson (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Rejeanne Lamothe <simbi100@yahoo.com>
>
> Dear Representative of Prime Minister Patterson:
>
> I am a Haitian-American writing to engage you in a
> discussion about Prime Minister Patterson's
> decision to accept Aristide into your country for 10
> weeks. To make a long story short: it's a mistake!
>
> Prime Minister Patterson is naive to believe that
> letting
> Aristide in so close to Haiti so soon after his
> overthrow can spell anything but more trouble for
> Jamaica and Haiti's new government on the one hand
> and
>
> more hunger and more misery for the Haitian people
> on
> the other hand.  At
> this time in history, Aristide has proven over and
> over again that he is nothing but the flipside of
> the
> Guy Philippe-Duvalierist-strand of Haitian
> leadership.
> All Aristide cares about is his money, his fame, the
> cult to his personality that he has done a great job
> of spreading--often thanks to hefty lobbying fees.
> To assume that Aristide is only in Jamaica to
> reunite with his daughters is puerile at best,
> mean-spirited to the Haitian people at worst.
>
> Why isn't Prime Minister Patterson focusing on
> coming
> to constructive solutions for Haiti's economy and
> infrastructure with other international players?
>
> Many Haitian-Americans and Haitians are tired of
> looking to pseudo-messianic leaders who in the end
> marry into Haiti's traditional elites, plunder
> millions from the Haitian coffers, arm murderous
> gangs
> only to
> chant vacuous nihilistic lullabies to the Haitian
> common folk.
>
> Again, why aren't Prime Minister Patterson and
> CARICOM
> focusing on
> aiding Haiti with long-term solutions for its people
> as
> opposed to bolstering short-term cults of
> personality
> such as the one Aristide and his powerful lawyers
> seem
> to have so successfully recruited them into?
>
> Last but not least, at a time when China and India
> are
> redoubling in efforts to advance their economies, it
> is unfortunate that Black leaders of the Caribbean
> and
> Africa are choosing to entrench themselves in weak
> positions of demagoguery such as the cult of
> personality of Aristide.  Don't we as third world
> countries have better, more cutting-edge concerns?
> Shouldn't we catch up with China and India? Must we
> always rally behind nihilistic and self-destructive
> positions of principle, backing corrupt messengers?
> When will we ever catch up with the rest of the
> world?
>
> It is truly a shameful day for the CARICOM and I
> hope
> that Prime Minister Patterson will quickly remove
> himself, Jamaica and the CARICOM from the
> self-destructive quicksand in which Aristide has
> engulfed himself.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Rejeanne Lamothe
> Concerned Haitian-American
> Brooklyn, New York
>
>
>
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