J'cans deserve an explanation
published: Wednesday | March 10, 2004
THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE JAMAICAN people deserve an explanation of the Government's anger at the ousting of the 'democratically elected' Haitian leader. I do not recall a similar outrage by the PNP nor any refusal to recognise rebels when Maurice Bishop's revolutionaries overthrew the duly elected government of Eric Gairy in Grenada; when the Sandinistas ousted Samoza in Nicaragua and the MPLA rose to power in Angola by way of an armed uprising. These ardent admirers of Fidel Castro should now say whether he came to power by democratic means or by marching on Havana with heavily armed troops.
The Jamaican government is greatly concerned about the loss of less than a hundred Haitians during a civil war, but what are they doing about the thousands of innocent people that are being slaughtered in this island by evil forces including some of those employed by the State!
If CARICOM leaders are truly sympathetic they will take their minds off Aristide and act now to help the suffering people of Haiti. Unlike Aristide whose life has twice been preserved by American troops, the Haitian people remain in dire need of social and economic assistance. But when it comes to the march to a higher standard of living, one is tempted to ask CARICOM and the Jamaican government: How many troops have you got?
