Word: haitianize
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...Haitians, fleeing from the nightmarish conditions in their own country, have headed for the United States in droves. Some 44,000 refugees were officially known to have arrived between 1972 (the year alter Duvalier took office) and 1981. The true number is almost certainly much higher. It was only in 1980, when 125,000 Cubans set out for the United States in the "Freedom Flotilla," that Haitians began to be refused entry to America in large numbers. Observers attribute the change in policy to an American fear triggered by the sight of thousands of Black Cubans and Black Haitians...
...United States and Pucto Rico--because the United States says they are the wrong type of refugee. Wrong in that they are poor and Black. Wrong in that the horror they flee in merely "economic," not "political" And wrong in that the immediate cause of their misery, the Haitian government, is militarily and economically maintained by the United States...
...Unemployment and illiteracy have both been estimated at 30 percent of the population. In the capital city, Port as Prince, the average annual income is $275 a year, in the rural areas the figure falls below $135 a year. The infant mortality rate is 30 percent, and the average Haitian life span is 52 years. Amidst this squalor, Duvalier spent more than $1 million on his 1980 marriage ceremony...
...tontons-macoutes, Duvalier's security forces, control Haiti by means of arbitrary arrest, tontons, imprisonment without trial, and execution Victims of the tontons-macoutes include political leaders, unionists, journalists and civilians. According to Gerard Saint-Juste, director of New York's Haitian Refugee Center, some 30,000 people have been killed in Haiti over the last few years. In fact, he notes, there are 35 jails per school and 189 soldiers per teacher in Haiti. When the President-for-Life appears at public ceremonies, he carries a chrome-plated revolver in his hand...
...after a 14-year reign of server by Duvalier's father (Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier), the dictatorship passed without elections to a 19-year-old "Baby Doc." U.S. military ships in Fort-as-Prince Bay helped ensure a smooth transition. Today, U.S. ships still patrol Haitian waters, and Reagan plans to increase aid to Duvalier from $30 million to $50 million this year. The aid package includes helicopters and other weapons which end up in the hands of the tontons-macoutes...