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No Santas in Haiti
By Erline Vendredi
It has been more than 10 years since many Haitian families have celebrated a quiet Christmas. "Father Christmas did not come this year because he was afraid of being kidnapped," one of my friends in Haiti told me when I wished her a Merry Christmas. Kidnapping is one of the worst problems in Haiti and kidnappers target people from all classes - even poor housemaids can be kidnapped.
"Poverty is rampant in Haiti where many people live on about $1.00 a day. " -Erline Vendredi
Poverty is rampant in Haiti where many people live on about $1.00 a day. A bus ride can cost a family three quarters of their daily income and depending upon the fee affixed by the school, education might be unaffordable. Families rarely get medical care and few people retire in order to pay off their debts.
"If I were not a Christian, I would become a kidnapper because I am poor and need to take care of my six children," said one 40 year old bus driver. While ransom drives kidnappings most families cannot meet the financial demands. In 2005 bandits returned a young child to his parents blind because his parents could not pay the ransom.
Government's efforts to prevent kidnapping have been ineffectual at best. Last year former Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said that his government would condemn these bandits to penal servitude. But Latortue's declaration didn't hold any weight. "The [brigands] just paid a [fine] and got out of jail "said an Anglican priest. What a nice way to encourage violence and corruption?
The new Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis accused the USA for creating Haiti's kidnapping problem, claiming that. 99 % of the people deported to Haiti from the U.S. were gangsters, drug dealers, and assorted other criminals. Once in Haiti, they started gangs, stole, and kidnapped to have more money.
Do the hostage takers really need the thousands of dollars they seek? Not likely. Most of them use what money they get to buy expensive cars, fancy clothes, and entertain prostitutes. While they should be appropriately punished for their crimes, shouldn't there be a different kind of justice for the poor who are just trying to eek out a decent way to live?
