Haiti? Where?

Remember the earthquake? Did you buy the CD and donate money to the aid programme? Oh, and every celeb and his dog rushed to Port-au-Prince and had their photo taken. Weren't we so loving and caring, us Westerners, because we are soooo nice. 6 months on and Haiti is back to where it was - forgotten and downtrodden. The main support group in Haiti are the Cubans, who have been operating in the country since 1997 and did not purposely seek the media's attention to prove how nice they (honestly) are.

So now that Haiti is no longer in the Western media's radar, it's business as usual for the continued suffering of the proud people of the first ever independent Black republic. As reported by Democracy Now, debt relief activists are praising the International Monetary Fund’s decision to cancel Haiti’s $268 million debt to the institution. However, at the same time some groups have criticised the IMF for continuing to give Haiti loans, such as one for $60 million, awarded earlier this week, to help fund post-earthquake reconstruction efforts. Eric LeCompte of Jubilee USA said, "The role of the IMF in Haiti has been long criticised and this new loan could set Haiti on the wrong path toward a new cycle of debt." So it's give from one hand and take from the other.