It's been a while since I've written anything about Haiti, largely as I wanted to give the Preval presidency some time to get oriented, but The Economist has an article in the current issue as to where things stand now. There's good and bad.
Instead of merely entering Cite Soleil, the deperately poor and dangerous slum in Port-au-Prince, only when problems have arisen as was done in the recent past, MINUSTAH, the UN has set up within Cite Soleil and the net effect has been a reduction in kidnappings from December to January. While it is too early to determine whether the trend will continue as the article indicates, the benefit may very well be that aid organizations will now be able to enter the slum and, one hopes, accomplish some good.
Moreover, in Haiti's history, those who have instilled terror at the point of a gun have rarely had to face a weapon pointed back at them. There are numerous other problems as well: infrastructure issues, a justice system that is both overwhelmed and underfunded and high unemployment just to mention a few of the more pressing issues.
Nevertheless, it is a sad fact that any good news out of Haiti is a cause for joy, if not celebration. I long for the day when good news from Haiti is so coomonplace as to not be newsworthy.
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