Mapping Haiti

It was an unexpected brush with George W. Bushs trademark straight-talk. As he returned to the White House for the first time after his presidency ended to join up for US President Barack Obamas ramped up plan to collect and effectively distribute aid for quake-hit Haiti,he had a request. He knew Americans were aware of the need in the Caribbean for blankets and water,but please,he said,just send in the cash. Along with Bill Clinton,he assured them,hed oversee the humanitarian effort to see that money was well allocated. These are occasions that American diplomacy handles extremely well.

Haiti has always been a test case for the commitment and assistance that the US can deploy for the greater well-being of countries and peoples in what it sees as its primary sphere of influence. And Haiti,once proud bearer of the spirit of independence that gives a sharply revolutionary edge to the post-colonial politics,art and music of the Caribbean islands,was today the most ill-equipped in the region to handle the quake that could have taken as many as a hundred thousand perhaps even more. You just have to see satellite photographs of the island of Hispaniola that Haiti shared with the Dominican Republic: the border is immediately evident,Haiti coloured a grey-brown the shanties that cover most of its denuded territory,and the Dominican Republic a splash of green. That picture captures its political crises and its problems of development.

And it is that picture that the international community,which has rushed in with diverse offers of aid and assistance for the worst natural calamity since the 2004 tsunami,must change.