A Troubled Haiti Struggles to Gain Its Political Balance

[Rose Siding]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Jacques Rafael stood in front of the Moderne Store in downtown Port-au-Prince where his boss, a 52-year-old woman, was recently shot to death by members of the gangs who control this city's slums.

"They say the former government was no good," he said, referring to the government of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, overthrown in February. "But when Aristide was here, we could stay open until 10 p.m. Now we can't even stay open until 4 in the afternoon."

Around the corner, at the nearby school, Lycée Pétion, the students were headed home at 9 a.m. The police recently wounded three students there during a shootout with gang members, and the fearful teachers had stayed home, as they do many days now.

"We're the ones paying for what is going on," said Franzo Caryce, 19. "We expected more from Latortue."

Nine months after taking office, the interim government of Prime Minister Gérard Latortue is besieged by mounting criticism from every sector of society. Recent street fighting, some of it involving gangs that supported Mr. Aristide, has claimed an estimated 200 lives and left much of Port-au-Prince's business district deserted. Many business owners are in hiding after a wave of kidnappings, and rebels control large swaths of the country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/02/international/americas/02haiti.html?hp&ex=1104642000&en=b673f8e3508dade0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[lostnfound]

1. Fairly decent report; but what NYT really owes Haiti is an editorial..

calling on the Bush administration to restore the democratically elected president Aristide.

5

[Chicago Democrat]

2. Considering that Bush was behind his kidnapping, sadly I doubt

this will ever happen as long as King George owns Haiti.

[goforit]

3. So pathetic coverage under these imperialistic policies of George.

He will never have the hearts of the people.

As a Drug lord, his intentions are clear.

[Just Me]

4. U.S. corporate imperialism,...screwed a compassionate democracy,...

,...for profiteering motivations.

Wanna' "bottom-line"?

"They don't hate us for our 'freedoms',...they hate our policies which involve profiteering on the backs of the weak rather than caring for those who are oppressed or struggling or unfortunate".