“Haiti’s problems (earthquakes aside) are not supernatural, but man-made,” wrote Paul Ames, of Eureka.
Ames recounts how the U.S. refused to acknowledge Haiti as an independent nation until 60 years after Haiti’s actual liberation from France. Sixty years later, he writes, the United States invaded Haiti, then installed and sponsored brutal dictators—most notably the Duvalier clan. Haiti had its first elected president in 1991, until a U.S.-sponsored coup. Bill Clinton allowed Jean-Bertrand Aristide to return as president, but forced him to impose free-trade structural adjustments. “[As a result, Haiti,] a former food-exporting country, soon became 100 percent dependent on imported food,” Ames wrote.
The only online comments the letter received were from Hayduke (“Good letter”) and sonny (“Yes, VERY good letter.”) What happened to the gripe that liberals always “blame America first”?
Nothing wrong with admitting mistakes and trying to deal with them. That's always good. I'm very aware of the bad shit America has done and continues to do. I just don't like it when people, like Germans, who have no room to talk as you've pointed out, try and lecture me on how evil our country is, especially while I'm travelling. We'll see how it goes this time...
I just figured I'd try and give a compliment for a change. It was a good letter.
While I do agree with most of what Ames wrote, I'm also sick to death of America being blamed for other people's inability or reluctance to manage their own affairs, even after decades of opportunity.
When I travel I expect the usual barrage of shit from the usual suspects about what America is doing wrong in the world. Germans are the worst offenders, in my experience.