Haiti needs more than cash
To the editor:
Haiti needs and deserves our help. But Haiti needs more than that as it has been the basket case of the Caribbean since its revolution on or about the 1700s. The United States has probably poured $50 billion into Haiti in the last 50 years. American troops occupied the country in the ’60s yet nothing ever changes.
If historic precedent appertains Haiti will be the same 10 years hence as it was 10 years ago, lacking our constitution, our puritan work ethic and our capitalism. I see little hope for change. Unfortunately it has become the latest cause clbre and we will probably pour another $50 billion in. I am afraid our next move may be statehood; the president has granted temporary amnesty to 200,000 Haitians that are already here but what good does this do for the Haitians that are in Haiti?
We have a moral obligation to help but is there nothing we can do to bring about permanent improvement? I fear our latest efforts will be little more than a U.N. boondoggle operation which, unfortunately, we cannot afford since we are teetering on the brink of basket-ism ourselves. God save us all. It was Einstein who said that “insanity was repeating the same thing over and over, expecting different results.”
Peter Stewart Hare
Cape Coral