“where did the billions we already gave go—and why did that money do no good?”
Even though Haiti is in the Western Hemisphere where all countries except Cuba are well-functioning democracies, Haiti is not one of them.
“Although it proudly lays claim as the second oldest republic in the Hemisphere, Haiti is, and has been, among the worst governed and most undemocratic states. As of 2004, Haiti ranked in the bottom one percent of all countries on corruption and government effectiveness. The World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment
program rated Haiti in the bottom fifth of all developing countries equating it with Angola,
Central African Republic, Congo, Sudan,Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe.Transparency
International (TI) ranked Haiti, along with Bangladesh, as the most corrupt in the world.” WHY FOREIGN AID TO HAITI FAILED http://www.napawash.org/haiti_final.pdf
You’re right of course—while I was pointing out that technically Haiti was a “Western” nation, neither the government nor the citizens fit that description,hence their failures.
Hong Kong and Singapore would be examples of “non-Western” nations who owed their success to actually functioning as Western-type nations.