23670: (discuss) Esser: It is getting worse, George (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

Club Haiti

October 28, 2004

It is getting worse, George 

With the US presidential election nearing, Haiti has been all but
forgotten and left to it's misery. And what a misery. Random
killings. Kidnappings. Schools being attacked, even children put into
harms way. Neither the international community, charity and relief
organization, nor the brazillian-led UN "peacekeepers" have any
leverage, it seems, on the deteriorating situation the country faces.
Not to speak of Latortue's government which presents itself
ill-equipped to affect the daily lives of Haitians in any meaningful
way. Donors promised one billion US$ of structural aid just months
ago, a headline-grabbing PR coup, well orchestrated and executed.
International suits with mountains of Powerpoint and Excel sheets to
get Haiti back on track. Where is the money ? Check out the Haiti CCI
website and the appropriate Excel sheets. Promises: 100%. Delivered:
nothing, not a cent. Maybe they simply forgot to update it. But they
certainly paid the army of consultants listed, so some money changed
hands. The wave of violence is credited to so-called Aristide
supporters, fittingly enough labeled "terrorists" and claimed to be
on a beheading and shooting rampage. On the "other side", just
yesterday, 13 persons have been claimed massacred by a
police-look-alike commando in the Fort National area. What's the
truth and where does it lead to? How do Latortue's "freedom
fighters" (the armed rebels which provided the context to
force-escort elected president Aristide out of the country) fit in ?
How do their financial backers, in Haiti and abroad, fit in ? We know
you are busy winning a second term, George. But you put the Haitian
people into this mess, now get it out again. At least to the level of
misery of a year ago. That would be a success story.
.