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Hispaniola is a crystal-clear illustration of how much damage generations of corrupt government can do to a country.

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are pretty similar in climate and natural resources. I've been told -- haven't been there myself -- that when you fly over the border between the two countries, you can see the line as clearly as on the map. The DR side is lush and green, while the Haitian side is mud, stripped of anything and everything that can be eaten, burned as fuel or sold.

Probably not the best analogy in the world, but it brings the rise of Hitler to mind. When you have a nation that, for whatever reason, is completely without hope and desperate, there is a history of such nations embracing incredibly brutal, psychopathic dictators.

In Haiti's case, I don't know what the answer is. How to you bring prosperity to a country that is unimaginably poor, uneducated and without resources? There's not much to work with.

Very sad.

In Haiti's case, I don't know what the answer is. How to you bring prosperity to a country that is unimaginably poor, uneducated and without resources? There's not much to work with.

I don't know, either. If Haiti's beaches are anything like those in the DR, I'm sure there could be enough resorts to provide full employment -- but it's a chicken-egg problem. No one's going to create jobs without stability, and it's a tall order to achieve stability without jobs.

Part of the problem is these cults of personality that spring up among desperate people -- the march wasn't for Aristide's party, or his policies, but for the man himself. Haitian politics are defined as pro- or anti-Aristide, just as they were pro-or anti-Taylor in Liberia, and there are still pro- and anti-Peron marches in Argentina, to name just a few.