8588: Zero Tolerance for Zenglendos (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: LAKAT47@aol.com

I have been thinking about this issue since it 
came up a few days ago on this list.  I wasn't 
going to post on it until my husband, who is a
Haitian from Carrefour, came to me and told 
me that he was very happy to have heard from
his brother in Brooklyn that Aristide was finally
getting tough with the thugs called Zenglendo.
I told him that it was looking bad to the 
International Community and Human Rights 
organizations.  He said, they don't know Haiti.
He said. "I was born in Port-au-Prince, and I
know how it works, you have to stop criminals
from commiting repeat crimes. Those people are
not stealing from people, they are KILLING them
whether they cooperate or not."  (ok I'm paraphrasing)
He went on to say that this works in Haitian life if a 
person is caught in the act, not if his neighbor turns him
in or the like.  He said that he heard that people were 
walking in the streets with confidence now and even 
able to change money in public again.  I don't know 
if it's that rosy,  but I will go so far as to say, many 
many Haitians are happy and feel safer that this 
is the policy.  I daresay many on this list feel this way
too.

To those of you who are repulsed by this idea, think of
Haiti as the old west of the US.  That was democracy
too, wasn't it, but in its infancy.  Lawlessness was
taken care of by men of conscience on the spot.  It
evolved into the justice system we have today but
it went through an evolution whereby justice was
harsh and swift at the beginning.  I do not understand 
why the world expects that Haiti with her newfound 
freedoms would not have to evolve too.  We expect 
perfection on D-day plus 1?  

In Haiti, it is better for bad people to be afraid 
(very afraid) than for good people to be afraid.  

Kathy Dorce~