Toward the Consequences

In the past five years, the U.S. has pumped some $43.5 million into Haiti, the small Negro Caribbean country misruled by Strongman Franc,ois Duvalier. A respected back-country doctor before he went into politics, "Papa Doc,'' as he calls himself, has become a ham-fisted tyrant, illegally perpetuating himself in power. His private army of Tonton Macoutes. meaning bogeymen in Creole, crushes the opposition and shakes down businessmen. The bogeymen even insist on distributing the U.S. gifts of food and taking their cut; the U.S. refuses, and so the food sits rotting in a Port-au-Prince warehouse. All development--economic, social, political--is at a standstill, while Haiti remains one of the poorest countries in the Americas.

Now. at long last, U.S. patience has ended. Ambassador Ray Thurston is in Washington for consultation, expects to return to Haiti this week bearing an unpleasant message. The U.S. is cutting Duvalier off the dole, has reduced new aid this year to $2,400,000 (compared with $7,000,000 in 1962), will end all aid as soon as possible. The U.S. will honor its promise of $1,500,000 a year over the next two or three years for a malaria-control program, and will fulfill a $2,800,000 commitment for a jet airport at Port-au-Prince. But no more. "It is unfeasible to do anything in Haiti." says a high State Department official. "We have stopped wasting our money, and we are prepared to accept the consequences."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.