Looters teach Haiti a harsh lesson

[seemslikeadream]

A young Haitian rides a bicle through a rebel barricade on the road into Gonaives, Haiti, Saturday, February 14, 2004. (Daniel Aguilar/ Reuters)


A stunned nation works to rebuild ransacked schools


Tuesday, March 23, 2004


BY STEVENSON JACOBS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

CROIX DES BOUQUETS, Haiti -- A stack of warped Creole grammar books rots in the sun. Graded tests, splintered school desks and the twisted metal husk of a water fountain litter the floor.

One classroom has completely disappeared, its wooden frame peeled off board-by-board by looters who left only a chipped concrete foundation.

The National Athletics School used to be one of Haiti's best public academies until it was destroyed by gangs loyal to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide hours after he fled the country Feb. 29.

"Now there's nothing left," said Josue Charles, 21, one of several students helping rebuild the school in this town of market vendors 25 miles west of the capital, Port-au-Prince. "What they couldn't steal, they destroyed."

As life slowly returns to what passes for normal in strife-torn Haiti, the daily routine for many students remains in tatters. More than half the country's schools were closed after the uprising that left more than 300 dead and forced Aristide into exile.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1080027230303310.xml



A child cries after police led him away to safety with his father, third from right, after a crowd accused the man of being an Aristide supporter during an opposition march in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Sunday, Feb. 15, 2004. The man, unidentified, denied the allegation. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

[seemslikeadream]

1. Haiti paying dearly for revolt

Haiti's social systems and infrastructure have suffered for decades, but the violent chaos of the anti-Aristide revolt has increased an already desperate people's pain.

BY JOE MOZINGO

[email protected]


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Cratered roads, open sewers, blackouts, denuded hills, appalling healthcare, a scarcity of jobs and a whole class of society condemned to shanties made of other people's trash.

This was Haiti before it convulsed into violence last month.

Before the government collapsed, looters ransacked businesses, and banks, hospitals and police stations closed.

Before nearly every criminal in the country was set loose and still-untold numbers of people were murdered for their politics, whichever way they leaned.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/haiti/8239051.htm



Looters carry boxes from inside the port in Port-au-Prince.The US military is planning for Haiti contingencies but has not yet issued special deployment orders, US defense officials said.(AFP/Jaime Razuri)