MY SAY: HISPANIOLA
Hispaniola is a beautiful island located in the the Greater Antilles…..It is the second largest island in the Caribbean after Cuba. It is divided into two nations: Haiti in the west and the Dominican Republic in the east. Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492 and named it “La Isla Española”…thus the anglicized name.
In 1966 the United States gave one hundred million in foreign aid to the Dominican Republic …an amount gradually whittled down to 10.5 million by May 2017. Although the Dominican Republic has the largest GDP in the Caribbean many people live in poverty….not hunger….and the nation has thriving and productive farms and sugar, banana and coffee plantations. What were open air markets have given way to well stocked supermarkets. And their export of base ball players is legendary. The literacy rate hovers around ninety percent and child mortality rates continue to fall. It is a representative democracy with an elected president.
And it is a lovely place to visit. Its lovely beaches and beautiful resorts attract tourism year round and contribute to the growing economy and employment opportunities.
Haiti, right next door suffered a magnitude 7.0 earthquake of Jan. 12, 2010, that left 220,000 people dead, 300,000 injured and rubble nearly everywhere. $13.5 billion dollars in aid from nations and private charities were delivered. Given the total amount given one may well ask why has so little been gained? Why is the major city Port Au Prince still lacking a sewage system? Why are there still tent cities?
Cholera stalks the nation, with hundreds of thousands of cases and 10,000 deaths, an epidemic attributed to UN Forces from Nepal who carried the disease, but the U.N. has avoided its responsibility.
Of the billions in aid only a meager fraction under one percent went to the needy population. Major projects such as the Clinton Foundation’s garment factory which were to have created jobs fizzled due to construction corruption and lack of proper infrastructure- roads, bridges and transportation have not been rebuilt. Less than half the population is literate.
Haitians are the most downtrodden by corrupt politics and leaders from the Duvaliers, through Aristide, and the present government of Moise. Outright theft and bribes have enriched speculators and thwarted reconstruction.
Are the people to blame? No! No! and No! Haitians are the nicest people victimized and ruled by tyrants and s***heads and ignored by those harpies that call Trump a racist while they say not a word about Haiti or any of the Black nations of Africa that suffer famines, epidemics, and genocide….rsk
Comments are closed.
