Description
Haiti might be the only country in the Americas with a last name. References to the beleaguered nation are almost all the time followed by the phrase “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.” On January 12, 2010, Haiti acquired some other dubious distinction when it used to be hit by the most devastating natural disaster in the Americas, an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale. More than 220,000 people lost their lives and much of its vibrant capital, Port-au-Prince, used to be reduced to rubble.
In Fixing Haiti, one of the vital world’s leading experts on that troubled nation examine the challenges it faces, the tasks undertaken by the UN, and the new role of hemispheric players like Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, in addition to that of Canada, France, and america.
Since 2004, the ambitious United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has attempted to assist the country raise itself by its bootstraps. In the aftereffects of the earthquake, this effort has acquired additional urgency. But at this point, is Haiti beyond UN assist? Is it a failed state? Does it deserve a massive Marshall Plan–like program to foster recovery? What is going to it take to alleviate the Haitian dilemma?