Haiti needs help - and a serious plan

[cory777]

Source: AlJazeera

By Teresa Bo in Americas
on January 14th, 2010

I'm writing this on my blackberry as I am driving to Haiti from the Dominican Republic.

Again, nature has destroyed Haiti’s chances of getting back on its feet - or at least, that is what we are being told.

The truth is that natural disasters in Haiti always prove to be more devastating than in the neighboring Dominican Republic or in Cuba. Lack of infrastructure, deforestation and severe poverty are some of the reasons why.

After former priest Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from office, a UN mission known as MINUSTAH brought in over 7,000 peacekeeping troops to prevent the country from being torn apart by violence.

And it’s true, since then, the security situation had improved. But the remaining problem is that Haitians continued to live in poverty, with only a few of them profiting from the business that a UN deployment represents.

There are several efforts under way to ease Haiti’s issues of education, health, food and the recently formed Haitian police. The problem, though, is that nothing is being done to address the racism and class differences that continue to exist.

Read more: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/americas/2010/01/14/haiti-needs-help-and-serious-plan