What Is The Ideal Form Of Government For Haiti?

Haiti, the world's first Independent Black Republic, has been exploited by many of its leaders since its inception in 1504. The gamut of political leaders, who have ruled the country, has ranged from totalitarianism to a frail and aborted democracy under President Jean Bertrand D'Aristide in the 1990s.

While Mr. Aristide did not introduce a genuine democracy to Haiti, I resent the way the George Bush administration aborted his presidency a few years ago. A president, who was initially elected by a majority of the Haitian electorate, should have been allowed to complete his political tenure--however deplorable, inept and incompetent was his administration.

However, the powers that be in Washington, D. C., had some other objective in mind for this impoverished island of more than eight million inhabitants when they orchestrated Aristide's resignation under duress recently.

Hopefully, Rene Preval, Haiti's new president, will introduce a viable democracy to a people who have been so oppressed throughout their protracted history as a so-called independent nation.

I opine that a nation of the ilk of Haiti that has been abused and mistreated by many of its leaders is at last entitled to the best form of government in the world: a democracy.

Democracy, by definition, is the rule of the people.

It is a government, as we in the USA often say, of the people, by the people and for the people.

Though imperfect, a democracy is the only form of government that has been proven in the annals of history to guarantee civil liberties, human rights and the personal freedom after which most people in the world aspire.

Over the years, countless of Haitians have fled their country to enjoy the aspirations of free and independent people around the world.

The irony is that some of those same Haitian nationals, who have fled Haiti's oppression and tyranny, later returned to their nativity to impose on their Haitian counterparts a form of oppression, tyranny and abuse that is far worse than the one they originally left behind.

History tends to repeat itself when a society's intelligent voices, who should be speaking loudly and clearly in opposition to political and economic injustice, engage themselves in a conspiracy of silence to suppress the truth.

I certainly hope that the Rene Preval administration in Haiti will not perpetuate the status quo. Rather, may Mr. Preval and his administration learn their history, denounce the status quo and introduce to Haiti a new era of peace, stability and, last and not least, of full-fledged democracy!