I guess I've been living in a hole the last couple of days (as far as world affairs goes). I've kind of missed the story about Jean Bertrand Aristide and the uprising against his presidency.
I had high hopes when he first won the elections in Haiti in 1990. Naively, because he was a priest, I thought his would be a good presidency. Instead, after being returned to power by US forces in 1994, he appears to have become the same sort of kleptocrat cum dictator that the Duvaliers were (though, thankfully the Ton Ton Macoute are don't appear to be around anymore). There are reports in the news of his police force (the army was disbanded when America took the island in 1994) routinely brutalizing the citizenry to keep them in line.
Now, a group of gangs led by Buteur Metayer have taken the port city of Gonaives in the northeastern sector of the island and will not relinquish control until Aristide steps down.
I wonder how much of this situation is attributable to the US cutting off aid in 2000. I suspect that a lot of the aid might have been diverted anyway but we'll never know.
Posted by artandscience at February 12, 2004 03:19 PM