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Caribbean-Latin America
Growing security gives Haitians a sense of hope
2007-12-21
Ah, so intervention works. Haiti. Liberia. Ivory Coast. Afghanistan. Iraq. Bosnia. The list goes on and on. Going to be awfully hard for the next president to justify not intervening next time there's a terrible humanitarian crisis triggered by an odious thug-dictator.
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- For a country that has been in political and economic turmoil for several years, I've found a fragile but unmistakable sense of optimism here.

The turning point may have been last weekend's massive hip-hop concert by Haitian-born Wyclef Jean -- the closest thing to a national hero in Haiti -- and Senegalese-born megastar Akon. Virtually everyone I talked to said the show would have been unthinkable just a year ago for fear of armed gangs and kidnappings.

Few are willing to declare victory over the wave of abductions that almost paralyzed this country in recent years, but a sharp decline in kidnappings coupled with a budding sense of political stability have brought back a measure of hope -- at least in business and political circles.
Posted by:Steve White

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