Folks, Haiti was devastated by AIDs. And the baseball-sewing industry has gone to China.

[Captain Hilts]

They've been slapped by several different kinds of whammies in the recent past.

[MercutioATC]

1. "Recent past"??

At what point in its history as an independent nation has Haiti NOT been screwed?

[Captain Hilts]

2. Yes. But I was focusing on the immediate causes of the demographic shift, etc.

that have exacerbated an already bad situation.

The collapse of the baseball industry has hurt them hard.

[peacetalksforall]

3. Exactly, Mercutio. And I've only heard one person say that things (don't know which) were turning

around in the last coupld of years. However, when we look at the year that the US, France, Canada, The IMF and WorldBank took over the country by hijacking a man and the people who elected him - we haven't seen much. It still appears that poverty at a high percentage is status quo.

[tosh]

4. Haiti was not "devastated by AIDS".

Its tourism industry was devastated by the flood of misinformation at the time of the earliest outbreaks of AIDS. Haiti was wrongly blamed as being the source.

edit sp

[Captain Hilts]

5. True! That's part of it. But it did affect the demographics somewhat. Healthcare

there isn't what it is here. Same for birth control, etc. Haiti's infection patterns are pretty typical for under-developed countries, and they got hit harder, faster and recovered more slowly.

But, yes, you are right about the distortion. Probably from the Jamaica, Bermuda, Costa Rica tourist boards...

[5X]

6. And now you. n/t