It is ranked as the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Floods caused by hurricanes and tropical storms regularly claim thousands of lives. And now a powerful earthquake has struck Haiti.
How can one country be prone to so much devastation, to add to the extreme poverty levels and political instability?
The world it, appears, has grown to become indifferent to cases of chronic and acute lack of basic human needs in countries like Haiti.
Token response taking the form of peacekeeping missions and the occasional humanitarian aid hardly seems sufficient for Haiti.
The impoverished countries in the Caribbean are surrounded by some of the world's strongest economies and yet over the years, the Third World countries have been unable to shake off the yolk of poverty.
After the devastation of the atomic bombs, Japan got massive humanitarian assistance from the US, after its surrender and denunciation of aggression and sovereignty.
And after World War two, America also came up with the Marshall Plan, which sought to help reconstruct the battered European economies.
But when former slaves went on to form the first independent black country called Haiti, what assistance did they get? Or has there been no interest in the long term welfare of Haitians because they represent the only successful slave revolt in history?
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