Patrick, you addressed the very point that I was going to make...

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Patrick, you addressed the very point that I was going to make to Ruben.

Yes, he is very right when he argued that le peuple Haitien has endured much negligence and suffered severe oppression since Haiti's independence.

However, as you said, the hunger and oppression that they've had to deal with since the late twentieth century is not comparable to anything in their previous history.

I think I disagree with you slightly however, in that I don't think the suffering of the poor (the level that we are talking about) started with the Duvalier regime.

I think the truly horrible neglect of the Haitian people started after the maniacal killer Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) died. It seemed actually to have started with the son. During the father's time, the people were not starving and unemployed as they are today.

The country as a whole was also in much better shape.

Although he was or became a vicious monster, he was still highly intelligent.

For example, he was the last Haitian president who was able to assert any control over the Brandt and Mevs families.

The two families who think that Haiti is their own private playpen.

I have no personal issues with the two families, as some of them are friends of mine. However, as I've said in previous posts, even when it is a brother, cousin, or friend, who is doing something wrong, one must have the ethical strength to call it out. The reality is that "power corrupts and total power corrupts totally," and in Haiti total power has really always been in the hands of those two families, who have since the early 19th century manipulated the Haitian economy and politics only for their own personal gain. Anyway, all that to say that I agreed with Ruben's point that Haitians on the lower economic stratas have always lacked protection and have always suffered; I also agreed with you that things were better before the Duvalier era (that's what I was about to reply to Ruben when I noticed your post).

However, I think the evidence might indicate that, prior to Baby Doc, at least the people were not starving and the nation had a basic but decent infrastructure.

Hence, it is under Baby Doc's leadership that our little Humpty Dumpty fell and shattered, and ever since then all the kings horses and all the kings men have been too stupid or corrupt to put it back together again.

Let me know if I'm wrong, or if I misunderstood your point...you too Rubens.

Linda, December 28 2007, 2:18 PM

Topic: Kidnapping et deportes

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