President Aristide
“Aristide Is Playing With Fire” (editorial, Nov. 24) is an indication of your lack of knowledge of the pressing problems facing the Haitian people. After a long period of frustration in not getting the necessary help from American troops, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide did the right thing in asking the populace to help the police in disarming the brutal thugs and security agents of the old regime.
It is not, as you put it, his “incendiary” call to the public that is hurting Haiti, it is the Clinton Administration’s blocking $5 million in aid after the Haitian government failed to deliver on its pledge to start selling off state enterprises.
It was a positive step the United States took in helping the Haitian people overthrow a brutal military dictatorship, but quite another matter when it tries to dictate the path they take economically and politically.
SAMUEL HOFBERG
La Jolla
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