NYTimes Article, is the DR seeing more poor Haitians?

[deelt]

Two things

Lesley

Truly thank you for your nice words. They touched me. They mean so much more especially coming from a site like this where people express their feelings strongly.

Yes I have the book here in English. It is just called Dominican Republic history. I opted to get a copy in English because he included more information than could have been accepted within the Dominican media.
The truth is hard to swallow sometimes.

D

One last thing and then I will only read the discussions:

Has anyone read the book:

EL Pasado Dominicano by Frank Moya Pons?

It's interesting as it discusses the Dominican past from a political, cultural, social and ethinic perspective. Always good for controversial issues like these especially when everyone has a different point of view and mostly not factual. Just wondering. I was glad to find a copy in Sto.D in 2001 although the edition is old history does not change every 2/3 years. It sheds some light on Dominican-Haitian relations.

 

[deelt]

Thank for sharing!

Hey Narc

I guess I can always count on you to make an enlightened comment on this issue. When you move out of your little enshrined box and see the rest of the world as part of humanity and develop a sense of responsibility for making the rest of the world a better place, because you can, then YOU give me a call. In the meantime keep lining your own pockets with your self-for-self agenda.

My relationships are none of your concern. Suffice it to say God has blessed me with great friends and even greater experiences. Genuine people that do good and make positive contributions. When the rubber hits the road and all your money is gone, who could you call?

D

Gee Deelt, what insight! How similar where you guys? did you guys take the same trains and buses or was it the fact you were both on welfare?

Check back when you have a clue.

Please stop following your stupid NGO/UN agenda and quit trying to convince everyone including Dominicans on the island we are the same as Haitians!

 

[Texas Bill]

And what the hell does THAT mean?

Anyrate, the economic and polical turmoil which affects Haiti can be traced directly to its history. Soon after gaining independence, they were cut off politically and financially from France and the US. While other countries and territories in the Caribbean continued to flourish (due in large part to their continued practice of slavery), Haitians suffered yet they were free from the chains and cruelty of slavery. How ironic...

I'm afraid the UN and the US should not continue to stand still as this situation spirals out of control. For the stability of the region (ie, DR) it is in the U.S. and the UN's best interest to promote realistic political and economic agendas and not more idle promises.

I am SURE you will find, if you do the proper research, that the UN and the US have "promoted realistic political and economic agendas" and have not given in to "idle promises" with regard to Haiti. It seems to me that these agendas (political and economic)have been corrupted by the very persons they were intended to help. Do you REALLY advocate full economic support of Haiti by the UN and the US?? It seems that is your inference by the language used in your posting and that you are blaming the failure of the Haitian people to correct/resolve their problems on those two entities.
The UN and the US have sent Millions of tons of food, medicines, equipment, etc., etc. to Haiti and a large part of that has ended up in the DR. Every week, in Dajabon, you see clothing, bags of imported rice, donated equipment, etc. for sale on the streets by the Haitian vendors who come across the border on Monday and Friday to sell their goods. And these are goods from agencies in other countries that have been DONATED to HELP relieve the poverty in Haiti. I can see goods being sold, BUT FOOD intended to relieve the starvation of the people??? THAT, I can't agree to.

That is reality. What is happening in Haiti is that the leadership has ALWAYS done things to perpetuate their own agenda without regard to the consequencies on the population. The same scenario applies to the DR , except that it is vastly more transpatent in the DR than in Haiti.

Texas Bill

 

[Narcosis]

Deelt:

Your facts are well known and no surprise, you will not impress anyone here with what you are saying. The fact that the Catholic religion is practised differently in each country has nothing to do with the subject at hand, we could say the same for Bolivia and Peru where native indian faiths are mixed with the Catholic traditions as in Mexico and Central America, nothing new.

The point at hand is Dominicans are Latin American, we are more similar to Chilenos then to our neighbors to the West plain and simple.

As a side note, Haitians are so resistant to Western culture that they are the only country occupied by the US that did not embrace baseball, cultures as different as ours and Japan have, that shows you how resistant they are to adapt to OUR culture when they come here. They will have more influence on the Dominican culture than vice-versa and especially in large numbers.

 

[NALs]

Why is Deelt trying to say that Dominicans are Haitians?

Why is it that Haitians always put themselves above dominicans? They (at least the intellectuals that know their history) always dismiss anything Dominican as a temporary thing that will eventually succumb to the Haitian way of things. Do the Haitians think the entire island belongs to them? Do we need to remind them that it was SPAIN THAT CAPTURE THE ISLAND FIRST, THE COUNTRY THAT DOMINICAN VALUES AND THE DOMINICAN CULTURE PRAISES THE MOST AND EMULATES WITH MUCH SUCCESS!!!!!

Why can't a Haitian think that maybe its not that Dominicans are like Haitians, but that Haitians are like Dominicans? Oh, I forgot, Haitians are still stuck in their outdated history of being "super powerful". DOMINICANS ARE NOT HAITIANS, OTHERWISE THE ENTIRE ISLAND WOULD HAVE BEEN UNDER THE RULE OF PORT-AU-PRINCE. THE ONLY TIME HAITI HAD A CHANCE TO RULE THE ISLAND WAS UNDER THE LAST INVASION THAT LASTED 22 CONSECUTIVE YEARS, BUT OF COURSE DOMINICANS REVOLTED AND ESTABLISHED THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC BECAUSE THE HAITIANS WERE WAY OVER BOARD WITH THEIR STUPID AND RACIST RULES. HAITIANS PROHIBITED ANYTHING EUROPEAN, EVERYTHING INCLUDING SPEAKING SPANISH, DANCING SPANISH MUSIC, FOLLOWING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, EVEN BEING WHITE WAS DEEMED TO BE DESTROYED BY THE HAITIANS, THAT WAS IF THE DOMINICANS DID NOT STAND UP AND PUSHED THOSE BARBARIC PEOPLES TO THEIR SIDE OF THE ISLAND THAT SPAIN SHOULD HAVE NEVER GIVEN TO FRANCE!!!!

I know many would probably think that I got some racist elements into this, but believe it or not, I don't. I simply speak out what everybody knows deep down inside but are afraid to say, and of course I get severely criticized. But that's because everybody always take the Haitian side of things and always leave the Dominicans to fend for themselves. Don't believe me? Pick up a history book about the Dominican Republic and not just read it, but analyse it and TRY TO UNDERSTAND IT!

And about the religion deal, 90% of the people that live in slums in the Dominican Republic are Haitians, that was proven during the last population count in 2000. All these Haitians in the DR with their Vodoo beliefs are bound to impact especially the belief of Poor Dominicans. That's why poor dominicans (a good number of them, but not all) have these superstitious and vodoo like belief imbedded, the Haitians are Haitianizing the Dominican culture, intentionally or unintentionally, that is what is happening. Many people detested Balaguer for saying that Haitians are a threat to the Dominican Republic, WELL GUESS WHAT, THEY HAVE BEEN, THEY CONTINUE TO BE, AND THEY WILL ALWAYS BE A THREAT TO ANYTHING DOMINICAN. THE ONLY TIME HAITIANS WILL CEASE TO BE A THREAT TO ANYTHIN DOMINICAN IS WHEN HAITIANS BEGIN TO ACT MORE LIKE DOMINICANS. BUT HOW THINGS ARE GOING NOW, IT'S MORE AND MORE DOMINICANS ACTING LIKE HAITIANS AND THROWING OUR WONDERFUL DOMINICANIDAD OUT THE WINDOW. People don't try to hide it, I'm sure most of you know this deep down inside!

Sometimes, the way many of these Haitians and Haitian supporters speak with a sense of ownership and eventual Haitianization in the DR and the incorporation of the DR into Haiti, is just sick. Maybe I am being over protective of my culture, but sometimes I just wish that Juan Bosch would had invaded Haiti back in the 1970s when the army was ready to invade along the border!!

By the way, when are Haitians going to apologize for tormenting and creating a dominican holocaust the 5 or so times they invaded? Trujillo paid his reparations for the Haitians he killed in the 1930s, where is even the notion of apologizing by the Haitians for what they did to dominicans over 100 years ago? Oh yes, I forgot they seem themselves superior to Dominicans and they see the DR succumbing to the Haitians, someday.

Why is that Haitians always criticize the way Dominicans treat them in the bateyes, when the Haitians helped initiate this practice under Trujillo by selling the Haitian captives. The HAITIANS WERE SELLING THEIR OWN BLOOD AND SOUL TO THE DOMINICAN SUGAR INDUSTRY, WHY IS IT THAT THEY FORGET TO SAY THAT PART?

PEOPLE, THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND HAITI ARE NOT VERY PEACEFUL AND/OR LIKEABLE COUNTRIES TO EACH OTHER. THE ONLY THING KEEPING HAITI FROM INVADING THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IN OUR MODERN DAYS, IS BECAUSE THEY ARE IN COMPLETE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ANARCHY AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC IS MUCH MORE STRONGER NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY THAN HAITI. OTHERWISE, THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WILL HAD BEEN INVADED OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN BY HAITI. THAT IS WHY THERE IS SO MUCH HATRED TOWARDS HAITIANS,THEIR SENSE OF OWNERSHIP OF THE ENTIRE ISLAND AND THEY WILL TO INVADE IF THEY EVER GET THE CHANCE TO DO IT AGAIN.

 

[Texas Bill]

Deelt:

Your facts are well known and no surprise, you will not impress anyone here with what you are saying. The fact that the Catholic religion is practised differently in each country has nothing to do with the subject at hand, we could say the same for Bolivia and Peru where native indian faiths are mixed with the Catholic traditions as in Mexico and Central America, nothing new.

The point at hand is Dominicans are Latin American, we are more similar to Chilenos then to our neighbors to the West plain and simple.

As a side note, Haitians are so resistant to Western culture that they are the only country occupied by the US that did not embrace baseball, cultures as different as ours and Japan have, that shows you how resistant they are to adapt to OUR culture when they come here. They will have more influence on the Dominican culture than vice-versa and especially in large numbers.

Narcosos:

I don't think that Deelt is trying to impress anyone! Contrarily, you are emitting language that has underlying sarcasm in denying that posters comments. Additionally, you speak of "indian FAITHS" and Catholic TRADITIONS" when refering to what should be "FAITH" in BOTH instances.
"Occupied" by the US??? Get REAL. That has not been a continuous occurance, as you infer and would have us to believe. Such "occupations" have been of a peace-keeping nature and short-lived. So, get your facts straight!!!
It is only natural that Haitians would cling to what they were raised with and with what they understand, even when living in another country! Look at the Latin Americans living in other countries. They cling to their traditions like it was a life-raft and forego assimilating completely into the society in which they live. Evidences of that are in the Barrios of NYC, Miami, Newark and other cities of the world which house Latins from the Caribbean mileau.
As an educated person, you should know that one's religious background plays a huge part in their preception of how one should and does conduct their daily life.
Let's face the problem squarely; Dominicans don't like Haitians and don't want them coming into their country, legally/illegally, to take the jobs, the living space, etc. that rightfully belongs to Dominicans! That's it in a nutshell.
The Dominican Armed Forces can't/won't keep them out, they can't/won't hunt them down and extradite them, so the problem merely increases. So, don't try to place the blame for your problem on someone else; solve them yourself, and if you can't, ask for international help in doing so and accept the consequences of that action/request.
After all, that has been what you have done since Columbus first set up the original colony here.

Texas Bill

 

[nycVu]

I am SURE you will find, if you do the proper research, that the UN and the US have "promoted realistic political and economic agendas" and have not given in to "idle promises" with regard to Haiti. It seems to me that these agendas (political and economic)have been corrupted by the very persons they were intended to help. Do you REALLY advocate full economic support of Haiti by the UN and the US?? It seems that is your inference by the language used in your posting and that you are blaming the failure of the Haitian people to correct/resolve their problems on those two entities.
The UN and the US have sent Millions of tons of food, medicines, equipment, etc., etc. to Haiti and a large part of that has ended up in the DR. Every week, in Dajabon, you see clothing, bags of imported rice, donated equipment, etc. for sale on the streets by the Haitian vendors who come across the border on Monday and Friday to sell their goods. And these are goods from agencies in other countries that have been DONATED to HELP relieve the poverty in Haiti. I can see goods being sold, BUT FOOD intended to relieve the starvation of the people??? THAT, I can't agree to.

That is reality. What is happening in Haiti is that the leadership has ALWAYS done things to perpetuate their own agenda without regard to the consequencies on the population. The same scenario applies to the DR , except that it is vastly more transpatent in the DR than in Haiti.

Texas Bill

I beg to differ... The REALITY is that you cannot ship "millions of tons of food, medicines, equipment, etc., etc." to desperate and destitute people and then say, "OK, now go feed and medicate yourself". It's an arrogant, disingenuous and frankly, naive and irresponsible position for the UN and the US to take. Of course desparate, poor people will sell goods across a border. It's always about economics - and survival.

And desperate people behave desparately, no magic in that. If I don't know where my next meal is coming from and someone dumps a bag of rice on my front porch, perhaps I would resort to selling and/or hording more than my fair share, disregarding my fellow countrymen in the process.

I'm not saying that Haiti's leaders are not without blame. None would ever win any humanitarian awards - and obviously they're in no rush to a podium to accept one...

A far more beneficial approach for the US and the UN (by proxy) to take would be for them do take the millions of dollars spent on food and medicine and invest it in the development of infrastructures - economic not political - (ie, agriculture and/or the sciences) which would allow Haiti to become self sufficient. I'd argue that once "we" embrace full support, promotion and encouragment of economic independence, a serious palpable change would occur.

Anything less would be more business as usual - band-aids on open, gaping wounds. :ermm:

 

[deelt]

Down, boys, down!

A few things. I know you are an intelligent educated individual so let's discuss things civicly. There is no need for personal attack and insults. That is unnecessary and counterproductive to progressive dialogue. If you come to me with logic, regardless of your stand I will respect what you have to say. Trust me on this. I have not attacked you so I would like to see the same respect leveled at me.

My intentions were not to impress, rather share my point of view. (Thanks Texas for backing me!) People can choose to take it or leave it. It is your right to disagree. If you wish to explain go right ahead. If it is just your gut instincts to come back with degrading comments then get off the thread and hablen ple pla somewhere else. I am not better than anyone else here (or vice versa). God doesn't make junk. That is a fact.

Narc, go right ahead and believe that you have more in common with a Chilean. That is your personal right to believe. Allow Haitians the same space. If your both want to live in delusional worlds that is fine by me. I really don't care. But from the way I see it there are commonalities that are subtle, but they are there.

On the religious issue you prove my point precisely. You are telling me that Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, etc. did the same thing with Indian beliefs/faith and Catholicism, as we did. What do these countries have in common? INDIGENOUS PEOPLES with INDIGENOUS FAITHS. To think that DR and Haiti have NOTHING in common is ludricous in my mind, especially in the sharing of land. Tell me some tangible Taino, Carib, Arawak belief that we have and is evidenced in our everyday life in Haiti and DR. Then go to do the same with our African ancestry. 'Nuf said! Proving the obvious can be challenging.

Nals, I CHALLENGE all the readers to go FIND a statement where I say that Dominicans are Haitians or the Haitians are Dominicans? I said there were similarities between the two social cultures. I stand by my statement. If you want to politicize the issue. Go right ahead, but don't expectment to contribute to the bashing. I don't find that to be a constructive use of my time. The hatred/fear/threat/abuse between the countries is too deep. As evidenced from this thread.

Peace

 

[deelt]

Thanks for the laugh!

Nals,

I needed that laugh. To think we as Dominicans are somehow losing our identity is too funny. I am sorry. I do not agree with you on this. Not one iota. It is this through that is also preventing us from becoming better people within the US. We need to break stereotypes.

On the latter point of the batey. Exactly my point. It is just an unhealthy socialization based on oppression and survival of the fittest. This is fed by both countries.

Now, is that all we can do, point fingers? Or are we going to do something more? (Remember, when we point a finger, three fingers face right back at you). Yes, Haitians need to rise from within and attend to their country without a doubt. No argument here. But we too must do our part to help them and ourselves by minimizing corruption.

D

HOW THINGS ARE GOING NOW, IT'S MORE AND MORE DOMINICANS ACTING LIKE HAITIANS AND THROWING OUR WONDERFUL DOMINICANIDAD OUT THE WINDOW. People don't try to hide it, I'm sure most of you know this deep down inside!

Why is that Haitians always criticize the way Dominicans treat them in the bateyes, when the Haitians helped initiate this practice under Trujillo by selling the Haitian captives. The HAITIANS WERE SELLING THEIR OWN BLOOD AND SOUL TO THE DOMINICAN SUGAR INDUSTRY, WHY IS IT THAT THEY FORGET TO SAY THAT PART?.

 

[deelt]

I knew I liked you...

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will eat forever.

My faith has been renewed...Thanks

And desperate people behave desparately, no magic in that.

I'm not saying that Haiti's leaders are not without blame.

A far more beneficial approach for the US and the UN (by proxy) to take would be for them do take the millions of dollars spent on food and medicine and invest it in the development of infrastructures - economic not political - (ie, agriculture and/or the sciences) which would allow Haiti to become self sufficient. :ermm:

 

[nycVu]

The feeling's mutual....

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he will eat forever.

My faith has been renewed...Thanks

Thanks for the insightful, intelligent and impassioned discussion. Always welcomed by me...

Is this a Mutual Admiration Society "siting" or what?

 

[Narcosis]

Deelt:

Don't take things so personally, I made a statement about you growing-up in NYC with Haitians to point out how trivial that fact is in this debate.

The idea you base your knowledge on the fact you know Dominicans and Haitians from living in the USA is a very weak position to be making such broad statements on this subject. You and they are Americans of Dominican and/or Haitian decent much different from those of us that live here.

Your opinion is welcome nonetheless, but please don't get defensive when the credibility of your "facts" are challanged by people on the ground, people who live, work, employ and invest their money here.

We are no doubt the ones whom are most affected by what happens in Haiti not those of you theorists living under the protection of a host country, we want Haiti to prosper and the people to better themselves in THEIR country.

 

[ERICKXSON]

I think we are a lot more alike than Dominicans would like to believe. This I know from my experience growing up with Haitians in NYC. A good book that discusses these very similaries is "When the Cocks Fight" by Michelle Wucker.
-D

This countries are totally different (NO SIMILARITIES) however if you do know one let us know we are eager find out.

 

[NALs]

Nals, I CHALLENGE all the readers to go FIND a statement where I say that Dominicans are Haitians or the Haitians are Dominicans?
Peace

I assumed (based on all your posts on this thread collectivley) that you were saying that Dominicans are or should just accept the Haitian way of things because we are more alike than different, according to you. With that assumption in mind, is made that statement of why when people talk about the cultural similarities, why they always put the Haitian culture in a "higher" or "stronger" position than Dominican culture. The way people word things in any issue is very important in revealing their priorities, regardless of what they actually say. When people say that Haitians share alot of similarities with Dominicans, that gives the impression that the similarities are nothing more than a Haitianization process that is dissimating the Dominican culture. So if that is the assumption, how can anyone say that Dominicans and Haitians are much more similar than different when what we keep seeing is Dominican culture being replaced by the Haitian one? That is what I'm really after and if you don't see Dominicans losing their identity, then you need to get out more. Even the soon to be President if the elections go smoothly, Leonel Fernandez recognize the lack of identity and the erosion of what ever bit of identity that Dominicans have.

 

[ERICKXSON]

I assumed (based on all your posts on this thread collectivley) that you were saying that Dominicans are or should just accept the Haitian way of things because we are more alike than different, according to you. With that assumption in mind, is made that statement of why when people talk about the cultural similarities, why they always put the Haitian culture in a "higher" or "stronger" position than Dominican culture. The way people word things in any issue is very important in revealing their priorities, regardless of what they actually say. When people say that Dominicans share alot of similarities with Haitians, that gives the impression that the similarities are nothing more than a Haitianization process that is dissimating the Dominican culture. So if that is the assumption, how can anyone say that Dominicans and Haitians are much more similar than different when what we keep seeing is Dominican culture being replaced by the Haitian one? That is what I'm really after and if you don't see Dominicans losing their identity, then you need to get out more. Even the soon to be President if the elections go smoothly, Leonel Fernandez recognize the lack of identity and the erosion of what ever bit of identity that Dominicans have.

I guess we found someone that really needs to go out more! i mean please go out alittle bit more how can YOU! TELL ME THAT! i don't see a haitianisation of the Dominican People and it's culture please give more details.....

 

[nycVu]

I never realized the strange and vicarious relationship Dominicans have with Haitians until I actually visited DR for the first time last November. And after reading the responses in this thread from the more intelligent and knowledgable folks on this forum, I'm taken aback by this presumed threat of Haitians infiltrating Dominican culture. Excuse my ignorance, but I'd like to believe that the beauty, pride and exuberance that is Dominican culture that I witnessed and was so moved by, would continue to exist regardless of Haitian's "influence". Am I wrong?

And as an African American male, IMHO the biggest and most dominant cultural infiltration the Dominicans (and every other culture throughout the world) SHOULD be concerned about would be the negative BS that AMERICA shoves down the worlds' throat...

I cringed when I heard Dominican children - who don't even speak English - run up to me and call out "what's up my n*gger". What the...? I don't and never have used that vile term and I'll be damned if I'll sit passively by as someone else in a foreign country uses it as a term of endearment without checking them on it. So I had my white travel companion translate for me that the term is a derogatory one and shouldn't be used... Of course that point is hard to drive home when everywhere you go in the DR, some black American rapper's music is blaring and the word is used in a "chorus".

Fight the real enemy that's infiltrating and threatening Dominican culture - ignorant, gangsta AMERICAN culture. :angry:

 

[NALs]

I guess we found someone that really needs to go out more! i mean please go out alittle bit more how can YOU! TELL ME THAT! i don't see a haitianisation of the Dominican People and it's culture please give more details.....

Umm, I don't think I told you to get out a bit more, that was more toward Deelt. Must I make it clear for the 500th time on this board, that what I put here is nothing more than my own opinion based on experience, research, and some assumptions combined. I am simply expressing what I truly, and that's the key word here, TRULY believe in. If you want to make an impact on my belief, don't get insulted by me and please, properly back up what you say, in this case the Dominican-Haitian deal. That's the only way anyone else have the power to influence what I believe in, because everything I believe in is back by some facts.

Now, about the Haitianization. Noticed that many more Dominicans are practicing vodoo in "private", if that is not a sign of Haitianization, I don't know what would be! The fact that everywhere you go in the DR, you will see large numbers of Haitians. In fact, in many rural communities, like in the Monte Plata province between Cotui all the way down to the Capital, there are alot of backwater dirt poor villages that are more Haitian than anything else! Just a few years ago a Haitian "gang" - they were not a real gang, but referred to as one- was caught operating in Santo Domingo, they were bringing illegally Haitian women and children and putting them on the major intersections of the city to beg for money, if that is not a metaphor for the infiltration of the Haitian culture into the DR, I don't know what is. Besides that, imagine how many tourist were further put off but all those extra Haitians (whom the tourist perceive as Dominicans by the way) begging for money. For every 1 dominican kid that begs, there are 10 Haitians right behind him, that will have an impact on the tourist industry, further Haitianizing in this case the Dominican economy. In addition, there are other issues with the Haitians that cling to the Hatred towards them, aside fromt the historical part. For example, the DR is a country with not a good health care system, and yet, thousands of Haitian women are crossed over the border and taken to Dominican hospitals for attention. Then, a Dominican (for whom the Hospital was built for) goes to the Hospital and the Hospital doesn't have the medicines or the space for him, yes because of little funds, but also because what ever funds there were, were taken up by the illegal Haitians that are not suppose to be in the country to start with! Then we can add the job problem, the further impoverishing problem, you see, the Haitianization of the Dominican culture and country is a real threat. Don't wait until is too late to recognize it.

I do agree that America is another one that disregard all cultures other than it's own in this globalization trend, however America has something that Haiti doesn't have and that is cash that makes miracles, so in that sense, everybody looks the other way. Unfortunately, Haiti has neither cash or power, just a history of problems and a major economic disaster that is just scraping to cross over the mountains into the DR.

 

[Narcosis]

Erickxson:

Ilegal Haitians giving birth and staying in the DR...that is Haitianiztion. If you don't see it go to a public maternity hospital!

 

[Larry]

I don't see the point in all these Hatian discussions that are forever popping up. Illegal Hatians should be rounded up and deported and the border should be secured.
Larry

 

[ltsnyder]

Not to hijack my own thread to bring it back to the origional point. . . . .

But is it generally understood that the new government in Haiti is letting things go into a worse condition than they were? Is it due to an on-going lavalas resistance movement? or is it just that the new govenmnet is utterly indifferent? Please tell me if I am missing something here. Is the following statement true?

In spite of the curruption that Aristeed supported and was supported by, he in hindsight did a better job of taking care of the nations needs than the new interm government.

I'm just trying to get a handle on the situation. I find it hard to beleive that France, the US and others who publicly stated that it would be benificial for Aristeed to step down (to put thier position mildly) would not at least inject a little cash to make sure things run smoothly after the outsting. This whole situation seems to be senseless.

-Lee