DR: Marshall Plan needed for Haiti

National District Deputy Pelegrin Castillo writes today in Hoy newspaper that the United States should consider undertaking a mini-Marshall Plan for Haiti. Castillo says the new Haitian crisis is evidence of what happens when the international community acts on situations under the wrong premises, or, worse, "with attitudes of cynicism, indifference or hegemonic manipulation." Castillo mentions that for decades now Haiti has been an area of ecological disaster, containing the most depressed indicators of human development on the continent, with a government that suffers the effects of drug trafficking. "In these conditions, to hope for political stability and democracy is nothing but a true theatrical piece of drama of the absurd," he writes. Despite this, he says, sanctions have been imposed on Haiti for not meeting democratic standards, while the nation's precise state of desperation disables them from fulfilling them.

According to Castillo, "If Haiti's reality were accepted with all its consequences, then the international community, especially US, France and Canada, would have to assume a serious effort of national reconstruction, which Haiti deserves for historic reasons, and which would also contribute substantially to the safety of the region that is considered the US's third frontier."