Haitian History - Haiti Today (2004-Present)
Haiti is a country in which nearly everything needs help. In Port-au-Prince and other built-up areas, electricity is produced but 10 hours a day, and water (nonpotable) is available about one hour a day. Garbage is collected intermittently, and transportation is difficult.
Public transportation is unreliable, and although seemingly chaotic to people experienced with modern mass-transit, the brightly colored tap-taps (buses) work well enough to service Haiti's limited infrastructure. Roads throughout the nation are in disrepair to the extent that vehicles cannot negotiate the potholes without suffering damage to tires and suspension, and the embargo has ensured that repair parts are out of reach. There are cases of starvation, there is malnutrition, and deaths among the very young can be traced to sanitation, diet, and a lack of available medical care and pharmaceutical products.
On September 17, 2004 Hurricane Jeanne devastated the north coast of Haiti leaving 3,006 people dead and many countless others homeless in flooding and mudslides, mostly in the city of Gonaïves. Shortly after the hurricane, international aid workers were forced from the area by Haitian rebels seeking to further destabilize the area.
Today, Haiti is still struggling with poverty and instability. Elections are
planned for the end of 2005 but the lack of security and voter registration seriously threaten the possibility of these elections actually taking place. Violence and turmoil continue to rock the small island nation.
The presence of a brazillian-led U.N. peacekeeping force and an understaffed local police force are making attempts to help slow the widespread violence. However, the security situation seems to worsening by the day.
Kidnappings and brutal killings are becoming more and more commonplace and make the immediate hope of peace very bleak.