Others on the list are accused of facilitating drug smuggling through corruption - looking the other way and taking bribes, U.S. officials said. Haiti's justice minister, Camille LeBlanc, who is believed to have profited handsomely since Mr. Aristide's return by freeing Colombian drug traffickers from Haitian jails. Nor is there any indication that Mr. Preval's mentor, Mr. Aristide, is involved, the official said. First elected in 1990, Mr. Aristide handed power to Mr. Preval after elections in 1995. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Most people survive on less than a dollar a day.
Yet shiny new gas stations with shotgun-toting guards cater to a growing lot of polished, new sport utility vehicles. Apart from building a democracy, one justification President Clinton gave for dispatching U.S. troops in 1994 was to stem the flow of drugs through Haiti. Haiti presents no obstacles to traffickers. Whether this is by incompetence or design, I don't know. They include Robert Manuel, secretary of state for public security, who fled to Guatemala last October.