(cross-posted from
Odd Hours) Famous development economist
Jeffrey Sachs: "The crisis in Haiti is another case of brazen US manipulation of a small, impoverished country." According to Sachs, the Bush administration has a history of proposing compromises to which Aristide would agree; the opposition would refuse, and the failure to reach a compromise would be used as a pretext to punish Aristide. This happened in 2000, when certain Haitian senate candidates were supposed to face runoff elections. Aristide agreed to the US-sponsored comrpomise plan, but the opposition kept delaying. Result: the Bush administration cut off $500 million in humanitarian aid.
The same thing has happened in recent weeks:
As Haiti slipped into deeper turmoil last month, Caribbean leaders called for a power-sharing compromise between Mr Aristide and the opposition. Once again, Mr Aristide agreed but the opposition merely demanded the president step down - reportedly rejecting even US Secretary of State Colin Powell's requests to compromise. But rather than defending Mr Aristide and dealing with opposition intransigence, the White House announced the president should step down.