On Haiti - "Hope" is not cutting it

Now the United States and the United Nations are being criticized by Haitians. What for? They are upset about the coordination of the tremendous amount of supplies and goods that are entering their torn country but not being delivered fast enough to those who need them. But Haitians have had it. They are more than frustrated. They have lived through aid never getting to them. It is a situation that has persisted through the years. The U.S. knows that too.

What you have there is a totally collapsed infrastructure. Roads are impassable. The main sea port was destroyed. You have a small airport with one runway with 200 planes coming and going on a daily basis. They are upset because we are transporting troops first before goods.

Without troops and helicopters and other forms of transport on the ground, there will be no way to get the goods to where they need to be. Without opening up the roads, there will be no distribution of medical supplies and water. We have to import equipment to move the rubble. Without security, more people will be out there with machetes, looting and causing mayhem. These are the facts of life and our troops are on a life and death mission.

The Post Editorial says that we need to save Haiti. Their reasoning is there was “hope” to getting the country on track because Haiti “might provide opportunities beyond violence or drugs or making illegal runs for Florida.” What a bunch of hogwash.

We have been involved in Haitian politics almost since its inception. Look at the mess. It is the one of the poorest nations in the world. We supported corrupt regimes with the “hope” that it would get better. Haiti was doing OK until the Duvaliers came into power. They managed to destroy civil society and placed the country on a path toward destruction. Haiti has never recovered from this corrupt Father and Son regime. Then came Aristide who was freely elected. We have sent in over a billion in aid through the years that never got to the people and went to corrupt leaders. Aristide was linked to corruption and the drug trade. It hasn’t gotten better in Haiti. They have not been able to rise from the ashes.

It is horrible what has happened to Haiti, not only now with the worse natural disaster close to us but the continued conditions of its people, who by no fault of their own, were born there and live there with no means of improving their situation. Many of those who get educated leave Haiti with most migrating to the U.S., while those left behind continue to suffer. We need to rethink Haiti altogether because what we have been doing with all our financial "hope" and good intentions have not worked. Geraldo Riviera thinks that we need to take over the country.

Right now, however, we need to put politics aside and help the Haitian people first. 85% of the buildings in Port au Prince were destroyed. Thousands are dead. People continue to die.