#199: haiti article (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

                   Haiti: A Case of What Not
                   to Do in Yugoslavia?
                   TIME Notebook: Five years after U.S.
                   restored democracy, chaos rules again

                   Western planners contemplating the
                   reconstruction of Kosovo might want to look at
                   Haiti. In 1994 Haitians were dancing in the streets
                   after U.S. troops restored democracy. Not
                   anymore. Political squabbling has led to
                   government paralysis, and Haiti's President Rene
                   Preval suspended Parliament in January and rules
                   by decree. Although donor countries pledged more
                   than $1 billion in aid, the latest U.N. report notes
                   that $570 million still hasn't been handed over
                   because Haiti lacks the ministerial staff to draft
                   programs for using the money. The report points
                   out that 4 percent of Haiti's population still owns
                   66 percent of the country's resources, and annual
                   income averages $250 per person, compared with
                   $3,320 for the rest of the Caribbean and Latin
                   America. Drug traffickers have also targeted Haiti.
                   DEA officials believe as much as 15 percent of the
                   cocaine in the U.S. may be coming through it
                   capital, Port-au-Prince. There is growing
                   speculation that former president Jean-Bertrand
                   Aristide could profit from the chaos: A total
                   collapse may encourage his supporters to bring
                   him back to power.

                            -- TIME CORRESPONDENT WILLIAM DOWELL


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